21 April 2025: Grouse Lek Extravaganza with She Flew Birding Excursions.
Day 3: Gunnison sage-grouse lek, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Fruitgrowers Reservoir, to Grand Junction
The primary grouse we’ll see on the Grouse Lek tour is the Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) a goal species for a lot of birders as a result of it’s listed as Endangered by the IUCN and its declining inhabitants incorporates only one,770 to eight,000 grownup birds. Mockingly the species didn’t “exist” till 1995 when it was cut up from the better sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus).
From Colorado Parks and Wildlife[1]: “Within the late 1990’s Colorado wildlife researchers discovered that the sage-grouse within the Gunnison Basin had been distinctive from the sage-grouse discovered elsewhere. Named for its residence vary the chicken is:
- Two thirds (2/3) the scale of the better sage-grouse
- Has extra distinct white barring on its tail feathers, seen from behind through the strut
- A yellow-green fleshy comb above every eye … and …
- Lengthy filoplumes that come up from the again of the neck and are tossed up and again through the strut.
- It additionally has a very separate vary from the better sage-grouse.
This map exhibits the present and the potential ranges each species would possibly resettle if their numbers grew. “As of 2012 the Gunnison sage-grouse inhabited solely 10% of its unique vary”[1].
Sadly the Gunnison sage-grouse is in hassle. It’s solely present in seven remoted places in Colorado and has one tiny inhabitants in Utah. Its vary retains shrinking.
In 2013 US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed itemizing it as Endangered however suggestions from residents, ranchers, native governments, and the oil and fuel trade didn’t need the land use constraints so for now it’s listed as Threatened within the U.S.
At present our tour will see the birds from afar at a lek on the crest of a hill. We’re privileged to see this endangered dance.
Study extra concerning the Gunnison sage-grouse on this video from Excessive Nation Information.
[1] Quotes with the footnote [1] are from a 2012 video by Colorado Parks and Wildlife on YouTube. That video additionally exhibits a captive breeding program that was carried out at the least a decade in the past.
