Justification of Red List category
This species qualifies as Vulnerable owing to a long-term and rapid population decline. Most populations appear to have stabilized or increased since 1995, but the effects of drought and the increasing demand for both fossil fuel and renewable energy development (including wind and biofuels) continue to place remaining habitats at risk. Therefore, the species is precautionarily retained as Vulnerable, because of potential future declines, although if these do not materialise the species will warrant downlisting to a lower threat category.
Population justification
The global population is estimated to number 22,000-41,000 individuals (McDonald et al. 2015).
Trend justification
A re-evaluation of population trends by Garton et al. (2016 [per C. Hagen in litt. 2016]) suggests that over the preceding 48 years, there had been a measurable decline in population, but this may not be to the same degree as previously thought. Over that 48 year period it was found that the abundance may have declined on average by 49% at an average rate of annual decline of 1.7% per year (Garton et al. 2016 [per C. Hagen in litt. 2016]). However, most populations of Lesser Prairie-chicken have stabilised or increased as a result of a variety of conservation measures being enacted over recent years (C. Hagen in litt. 2016, Belinda et al. 2017). Conservatively assuming that the annual figures shown above have been continuous over the 48 year period, the rate of decline would roughly equate to 20-25% over the past 3 generations (16.5 years); although given that since 2013 the population is thought to have increased (Belinda et al. 2017), this is likely to be a pessimistic estimate.
Tympanuchus pallidicinctus occurs in west-central and south-west Kansas, south-east Colorado, the Oklahoma panhandle, Texas (Permian Basin) and eastern New Mexico, (U.S.A.), and historically perhaps in southern Nebraska (Wolfe et al. 2007).
It originally inhabited mid-grass prairie with or without interspersed Shinnery Oak Quercus havardii or Sand Sagebrush Artemisia filifolia (Hagen et al. 2002, Wolfe et al. 2007). It is now most common in dwarf shrub-mixed grass vegetation, sometimes interspersed with short grass and, optimally, with some portion (<25%) of the landscape in row grains as supplemental winter forage. Successful nests tend to be in areas with greater shrub cover and visual obstructions (Davis 2009), and habitat occupancy increases with native land cover (Hagen et al. 2016). Leks are usually on elevated areas with short vegetation (Wolfe et al. 2007). Breeding occurs from mid-March to late May (Wolfe et al. 2007). Food comprises foliage, seeds, grain, insects in the warmer months and acorns in the south of the range (Wolfe et al. 2007). Birds flock in late autumn and early winter, when they feed in croplands (Wolfe et al. 2007).
Croplands have expanded since the late 19th century and complete conversion is now the principal threat (Hagen et al. 2002, Wolfe et al. 2007), as areas with more than 37% cultivated land are probably unsustainable (Hagen et al. 2002). Intensive grazing reduces food and cover, and herbicides reduce shrub cover and acorn production (Wolfe et al. 2007). Market hunting greatly reduced populations in the early 20th century (Wolfe et al. 2007). Conversion of prairies to woodlands from the lack of fire is one of the primary threats facing the species, yet this threat can be reversed through proactive land management that includes the use of prescribed fire at biologically appropriate intervals (Hagen and Elmore 2016). Yet fire could also threaten the species in the short-term at the local level, as 780,000 acres of habitat was destroyed by fire in 2017, and populations in these areas were concurrently impacted (Belinda et al. 2017). However, populations will likely be improved in the future as a result of this (Belinda et al. 2017). Numbers declined more severely in the dust bowl of the late 1930s, and significantly with droughts in the 1950s and early 1990s (Wolfe et al. 2007). Recent droughts have also impacted the species (North American Grouse Partnership in litt. 2018, R. Rodgers in litt. 2018), decreasing chick and juvenile survival (Ross et al. 2018).
Today, recreational hunting is limited to Kansas and the conservative seasons produce an annual harvest of fewer than 1,000 birds (Wolfe et al. 2007, Van Pelt et al. 2013). In Oklahoma, 39.5% of the prairie-chicken mortality recorded was due to fence collisions, while in New Mexico, this figure was 26.5%. The species has also been found to avoid power lines, and so it is likely that the erection of other tall structures (including wind turbines) will lead to increased habitat fragmentation and reduced home range sizes (Pruett et al. 2009) as well as reduced reproductive success (Pitman et al. 2005). Wind-energy facilities are increasing in the Great Plains, particularly in states with Lesser Prairie-chickens, as these have the highest potential for wind energy development. If climate change should lead to increased temperatures within the species's range, this could also impact the species as it has been found that nest survival decreases 10% for every half-hour when temperature exceed 34°C (Grisham et al. 2016).
Conservation Actions Underway
The species is legally protected in all range states. Numbers of leks and attending males are monitored via ground and aerial surveys (McDonald et al. 2014, Garton et al. 2016 [per C. Hagen in litt. 2016], J. Haufler in litt. 2012). Reintroduction programs have failed in Texas and Colorado (Wolfe et al. 2007). Some grazing regimes have been successfully manipulated, and croplands have reverted to roughly 2 million acres of grassland under the Conservation Reserve Program and other private land management schemes, which have benefited several populations (Hagen et al. 2002). Large areas of habitat have been purchased by some states and the Nature Conservancy and Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances are being implemented in Texas and Oklahoma (J. Haufler in litt. 2012). Research has been conducted on the species's ecology and conservation, which will facilitate the production of recovery plans. Miles of unneeded fences have been removed in parts of Oklahoma and Texas and a method has been developed to mark remaining fences to reduce mortality (Rogers 1997). WAFWAs conservation efforts have resulted in 53,000 ha of conservation offsetting and LPCI has enrolled 450 landowners and 430,000 ha in conservation actions to benefit the species since 2010 (C. Hagen in litt. 2016).
40 cm. Plump, brown-barred gamebird. Yellow wattles of skin form eyebrow. In courtship, reddish-orange air-sacs on sides of neck inflated and neck-plumes (pinnae) erected. Female has shorter neck-plumes and barred tail. Similar spp. Sympatric with the Greater Prairie-chicken T. cupido in west-central Kansas, which is larger, darker and has yellow-orange air-sacs. Voice Light, bubbling call at leks rather than the low hooting of T. cupido.
Text account compilers
Derhé, M., Bird, J., Keane, A., Wege, D., Westrip, J., Benstead, P.
Contributors
Hagen, C., Braun, C., Haufler, J., Beauprez, G., Davis, D., Applegate, R., Whitlaw, H., North American Grouse Partnership, Odell, E., Schoeling, D., Rodgers, R.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Lesser Prairie-chicken Tympanuchus pallidicinctus. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/lesser-prairie-chicken-tympanuchus-pallidicinctus on 10/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 10/01/2025.