Greater Sage-Grouse Images

Greater Sage-Grouse Images, Facts and Information:

Centrocercus urophasianus

• Greater Sage-Grouse are large, chubby birds with long tails, small heads and mottled gray-brown plumage.
• Greater Sage-Grouse are notable for their elaborate courtship rituals in the spring where they display, fight and mate on leks.
• Greater Sage-Grouse are the largest grouse in North America. The Greater Sage-Grouse is a permanent resident in its breeding grounds in sagebrush steppes in the western United States and some southern areas of Canada.
• Clutch size ranges from six to eight eggs; incubation time is 25 to 27 days.
• Greater sage-grouse apparently have high rates of nest desertion and nest predation. This is an ever increasing problem due to oil and gas exploration and drilling in sagebrush steppes where nest desertion becomes common because of disturbances.
• Residential building and energy development have caused the greater sage-grouse population to decline from 16 million 100 years ago to between 200,000 and 500,000 today.
• Greater Sage-Grouse are non-migratory but will move to lower elevations during the winter to find food.
• Collective nouns for groups of grouse are many, they include a “chorus”, “covey”, “drumming”, grumbling” and “leash” of grouse.
• Nicknames for include “sagehen”, “sage cock”, and “sage chicken”
• Greater Sage-Grouse live about 6 years.

I hope you enjoy viewing my Greater Sage-Grouse photos.