When it comes to the unique mating rituals found in the animal kingdom, we can all agree
that birds have some of the best. From a display of vibrant plumage to an attention-grabbing song
or an intricate dance, birds big and small put on a great show.
But why settle for great when you can have greater? Get ready to strut your
stuff and shake a tailfeather. This is the Greater Sage Grouse.
Hi! My name is Aranya Iyer and you’re watching Animalogic’s World of Birds.
To catch a glimpse of one of the rarest birds in all of Canada, we
are here in Grasslands National Park. You can find these kooky creatures ripping up the
dancefloor amongst their namesake, the sagebrush.
This species was simply known as the “sage grouse” until the
Gunnison sage grouse was recognized as a separate species in the year 2000.
They’ve also been called sage hens or sage chickens. Their scientific name, centrocerus
urophasianus, means spiny tailed pheasant. But don’t be fooled! Sage grouse are true grouse,
and not pheasants at all. In fact, they are the largest grouse species found in North America.
Females average about 60 centimeters long,
weighing about 1.5 kgs, while males are just a little longer, but twice as heavy.
Despite their relatively large size, sage grouse are strong and fast fliers. They can reach speeds
of up to 80 kilometers per hour, though only for short bursts. Unlike other grassland species,
they don’t migrate long distances. In fact, the longest recorded sage grouse migration
occurred right here in Saskatchewan, where birds from Grasslands National
Park flew up to 193 kilometers south to spend winter in Montana.
Flights of this length are rare for the sage grouse, and sustained flights rarely exceed a
few kilometers at a time. Most of their movement is on foot, averaging a kilometer or two per day.
So what makes this creature one of North America’s most iconic grassland species?
Words cannot describe it, so why don’t you just take
a look. This mating display simply has to be seen to be believed.
Every spring, at the break of dawn, sagebrush country fills with a strange burbling sound.
In order to attract a mate, groups of male sage grouse meet at a breeding ground called a lek.
It’s here they’ll perform an elaborate song and dance display,
hoping to impress the females watching nearby. `Step 1: Take several gulps of
air. Step 2: And then puff out your chest like a well-oiled bodybuilder. And believe me,
male sage grouse take this to a whole other level – with some big sage grouse energy.
They will repeatedly gulp air in order to inflate the bulbous yellow air sacs on their chests. They
may hold up to 4 liters of air in a pouch in their esophagus at a time! They then lunge forward,
or strut, to forcefully push the air in and out, rapidly inflating and deflating the air
sacs. This makes a popping sound, almost like a cork being pulled from a bottle.
The sound can be heard up to a whopping 3 kilometers away! They will also sweep
their wings across their white chests to create a swishing noise and fan their starburst tails.
These displays are performed almost continuously and up to 10 times per minute for several hours
early in the morning and late at night. I’m exhausted just thinking about it!
Leks normally occur in the same location each
year, with some sites believed to be used for thousands of years. They’re
typically located in sparsely vegetated areas with clear visibility like this.
Females inspect the males closely in order to size up the displays and choose
a mate – which can’t be easy, since up to 400 male sage grouse may attend a lek at one time.
Individual males can be identified by their unique tail patterns. Despite all the male
bravado on display, the females are the ones in charge. Once a female chooses a mate,
she crouches and droops her wings slightly to indicate a mating invitation to the male.
Sage grouse are polygynous, meaning males mate with more than one female. So while there may
be dozens of male out for picking, only a few get access to the majority of females.
One study recorded a single male sage grouse copulating 37 times with 37 different
female partners! He volunteered as tribute to save his species and boy are we grateful for him.
This puts enormous pressure on males to have the very best display. Ah,
so that’s why they dance like nobody’s watching! It also makes them extremely territorial.
A male will return, morning after morning, to his particular lek and to his particular position
within the lek. After staking their claim, they will vigorously defend their areas on the lek,
even though it is just a few meters wide. Rival males may find themselves in a stand-off,
if they get too close. They start by crouching and giving off a low and repeated clucking.
This is just a warning that says don’t mess with me! But if the stand-off intensifies,
they may launch battering attacks with their wings to drive their opponent away. The stakes
are incredibly high – since most males on the lek end up with no mating opportunities at all.
Like with other grouse species,
males have no further contact with the female or the young. These birdie baby
daddies are off to gain weight and restore their strength for the next breeding season.
Meanwhile, sage grouse sisters are doing it for themselves! They are responsible for all of the
nest-building and incubation for their young. They make bowl shaped nests on the ground,
typically underneath a sagebrush shrub. They line their nest with leaves, grasses,
twigs and feathers the female will pluck from her own breast. They will
lay approximately 4 to 11 eggs each, with the incubation period being about a month.
Tare toThe chicks are able to feed themselves within minutes of hatching. At just 5 weeks old,
these self-sufficient little babies can even fly off confidently. ⁷
Sage grouse typically eat leaves, buds,
flowers and insects but sagebrush leaves dominate the majority of their diet throughout the year.
Adult sage grouse have developed specialized stomachs to digest these tough leaves, however,
in the first three weeks after hatching, their chicks cannot digest sagebrush and
rely on forbs and insects for the bulk of their diet.
An adult hen will lead her growing chicks to areas where they can feed,
including irrigated pastures, wet meadows, and alfalfa fields. But as winter sets in,
the sage grouse diet shifts to 100% sagebrush.
Sage grouse usually usually live for about 3-6 years. Females tend to live
longer because males are more vulnerable when they are strutting their stuff on the leks.
Sage grouse predators include foxes, coyotes, eagles, and badgers but their
biggest threat is habitat loss. Though they were once abundant across the Great
Plains of North America, sage grouse populatioarens are rapdily declining.
It’s estimated that this species went from 16 million birds in the pre-settlement
late 1800s to as few as 200,000 remaining today, reflecting the widespread loss and
fragmentation of the sagebrush they rely so heavily on. Between 1966 and 2015 sage grouse
populations have declined by 3.5% each year. With such a small population of birds left,
they’re also highly susceptible to extreme weather events and disease.
Grasslands National Park is home to the only two remaining leks left in
Saskatchewan and currently protects just over half the birds remaining in Canada.
I’m sure you’ll agree, these birds are worthy of protection.
I know I definitely don’t want to imagine a world where we lose the sage grouse’s spectacular mating
rituals forever! So what should we talk about next? Let me know in the comments and
make sure you subscribe for new episodes every week. Thanks for watching! See you next time!