The
Sharp-tailed Grouse,
Tympanuchus phasianellus (previously:
Tetrao phasianellus), is a medium-sized prairie
grouseGrouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are often considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
. It is also known as the
sharptail, and is known as "fire grouse" or "fire bird" by Native American Indians due to their reliance on brush fires to keep their habitat open.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snapshots/birds/sharptailedgrouse.html
The Greater Prairie-chicken, Lesser Prairie-chicken, and Sharp-tailed Grouse make up the
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
TympanuchusTympanuchus is a small genus of birds in the grouse family. It contains three species:* Sharp-tailed Grouse, Tympanuchus phasianellus* Greater Prairie-Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido* Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Tympanuchus pallidicinctus...
, a genus of grouse found only in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
.
The
Sharp-tailed Grouse,
Tympanuchus phasianellus (previously:
Tetrao phasianellus), is a medium-sized prairie
grouseGrouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are often considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
. It is also known as the
sharptail, and is known as "fire grouse" or "fire bird" by Native American Indians due to their reliance on brush fires to keep their habitat open.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snapshots/birds/sharptailedgrouse.html
Taxonomy
The Greater Prairie-chicken, Lesser Prairie-chicken, and Sharp-tailed Grouse make up the
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
TympanuchusTympanuchus is a small genus of birds in the grouse family. It contains three species:* Sharp-tailed Grouse, Tympanuchus phasianellus* Greater Prairie-Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido* Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Tympanuchus pallidicinctus...
, a genus of grouse found only in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. Six extant and one extinct subspecies of Sharp-tailed Grouse have been described:
- T. p. phasianellus: the nominate race or Northern Sharp-tailed Grouse is found in Manitoba, northern Ontario, and central Quebec. It is partly migratory.
- T. p. kennicotti: the Northwestern Sharp-tailed Grouse is resident from the Mackenzie River to the Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada.
- T. p. caurus: the Alaska Sharp-Tailed Grouse inhabits north-central Alaska eastwards to the southern Yukon, northern British Columbia, and northern Alberta.
- T. p. columbianus: the Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse
The Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse is a subspecies of Sharp-tailed Grouse native to the Western United States and British Columbia.-Description:...
can be found in isolated pockets of native sagebrushSagebrush is a common name of a number of shrubby plant species in the genus Artemisia native to western North America;Or, the sagebrush steppe ecoregion, having one or more kinds of sagebrush, bunchgrasses and others;...
and bunchgrass plains of Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and British Columbia.
- T. p. campestris: the Prairie Sharp-tailed Grouse lives in southeastern Manitoba, southwestern Ontario, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. This subspecies coexists with the Plains race around the northern Red River valley and prefers low seral stages of recently converted forests to shrubland.
- T. p. jamesi: the Plains Sharp-tailed Grouse makes its home in the northern Great Plains
The Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, eastern Montana, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and northeastern Wyoming. This race lives in the mixed grass prairie preferring a mosaic of native grasslands, cropland, and brushy/woody riparian draws, creeks, and rivers for a winter food source above the snow cover as buds and berriesMast is the edible vegatative or reproductive part produced by woody species of plants, i.e. trees and shrubs, that wildlife species and some domestic animals consume. It comes in two forms.-Hard mast:...
.
- T. p. hueyi: the New Mexico Sharp-tailed Grouse is extinct
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or group of taxa. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species...
.
Description
Adults have a relatively short tail with the two central (deck) feathers being square-tipped and somewhat longer than their lighter, outer tail feathers giving the bird its distinctive name. The plumage is mottled dark and light browns against a white background, they are lighter on the underparts with a white belly uniformly covered in faint "V"-shaped markings. Adult males have a yellow comb over their eyes and a violet display patch on their neck. The female is smaller than the male and can be distinguished by the regular horizontal markings across the deck feathers as opposed to the irregular markings on the males deck feathers which run parallel to the feather shaft. Females also tend to have less obvious combs. Males weigh an average of 33.5 oz. (951 g) and females average 29 oz. (815 g).
Feeding
These birds forage on the ground in summer, in trees in winter. They eat seeds, buds, berries, forbs, and leaves, also
insectInsects are arthropods, having a hard exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet and include more than a million species that are already described. Insects represent more than half of all...
s, especially
grasshopperThe grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as short-horned grasshoppers...
s, in summer.
Breeding
These birds display in open areas known as leks with other males, anywhere from a single male to upwards of 20 will occupy one lek (averaging 8-12). Males stamp their feet rapidly, about 20 times per second, and rattle their tail feathers while turning in circles or dancing forward. Purple neck sacs are inflated and deflated during display. The females select the most dominant one or two males in the center of the lek, copulate, and then leave to nest and raise the young in solitary from the male. Occasionally a low-rank male may disguise himself as a female and walk to where the dominant male is and fight him.
In art
John James AudubonJohn James Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, hunter, and painter. He painted, catalogued, and described the birds of North America in a form far superior to what had gone before...
illustrates the "Sharp-tailed Grous(sic)-
Tetrao phasianellus" as Plate 382 in Birds of America, published London, 1827-38. The original watercolour by Audubon, from which this print was engraved by Robert Havell in 1837, shows the two grouse separated. However, the constraints of Audubon's wish have the birds illustrated life-size and the maximum page size forced Havell to overlap the birds in the final print. The original watercolour is owned by the The New York History Society.
Status and conservation
These birds are declining in numbers and range due to habitat loss, but overall they are not considered a threatened species.
The sharp-tailed grouse is the provincial bird of
SaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of and a population of 1,023,810 , mostly living in the southern half of the province. Of these, 233,923 live in the province's largest city, Saskatoon, while 194,971 live in the provincial capital, Regina...
.
External links