Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species is listed as Near Threatened owing to a continuing and moderately rapid decline in its population.
Population justification
There are estimated to be c.150,000 mature individuals (Rich et al. 2004).
Trend justification
The Partners In Flight Technical Committee has estimated this species's global trend as a more than 50% decline over c.40 years, a rate that would equate to a decline of c.20% or more per decade.
Centrocercus urophasianus inhabits the shrubland ecosystems of south-eastern Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan) and western USA (Washington, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado) (del Hoyo et al. 1994, Schroeder et al. 1999). Although the accurate estimation of trends is difficult, the range-wide breeding population was estimated as 142,000 individuals in 1998, clearly lower than historic levels (Braun 1998), and decline rates have been estimated at 50% or higher since 1966 (J. Wells and K. Rosenberg in litt. 2003).
It is closely associated with sagebrush Artemesia habitats during the breeding and non-breeding seasons, although some populations do undergo seasonal movements (del Hoyo et al. 1994, Schroeder et al. 1999). It is a lekking species. It may act as an umbrella to other sage-brush specialists when conserved.
Immense areas of its habitat have been cleared or degraded due to cultivation (for wheat, potatoes and other crops), burning and overgrazing, and the species has been extirpated from various parts of its former range (British Columbia, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona) (Schroeder et al. 1999). Continuing development of natural gas resources is causing reduced lek attendance and overall population (Holloran and Anderson 2005). Coyote Canis latrans control is likely to have a detrimental impact on sage grouse owing to the loss of beneficial indirect interactions (Mezquida et al. 2006). In 2003, about 25% of the radio-marked sage-grouse in the Powder River Basin died from West Nile virus. That number dropped to 10% in 2004 and 2% in 2005 in response to cool summer temperatures, but the long-term impacts require further study. There have been large-scale losses of sagebrush habitat owing to changes in fire frequencies resulting from cheatgrass proliferation (Holloran in litt. 2007).
Conservation Actions Underway
The species occurs within a number of protected areas and has been the focus of extensive ecological study. Management recommendations have been made to minimise the impacts of natural gas exploitation in sagebrush habitat (Holloran and Anderson 2005) and the Western Governor's Association are developing a strategy to minimise the impacts of development on sage grouse populations. A total of 63 Sage Grouse Local Working Groups have been established within its range, bringing stakeholders together to plan and implement local level conservation actions.
Text account compilers
Bird, J., Harding, M., Pople, R., Taylor, J.
Contributors
Wells, J., Butcher, G., Holloran, M., Rosenberg, K.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Sage Grouse Centrocercus urophasianus. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/sage-grouse-centrocercus-urophasianus on 25/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 25/12/2024.