Greater sage-grouse

Greater sage-grouse are on the lower level of productivity, but are generally longer-lived than most other upland species.

A male sage grouse puffs up its chest and fans out its tail. The bird is brown on the back, tail and wings and white on the chest. It has two yellow air sacks on it's chest that it puffs out.

Features: Greater sage-grouse are a large grouse species. They are mottled gray-brown with black undersides. Males have black on the head and throat, while females have white behind their eyes.

Habitat: Sage-grouse were originally found through much of the sagebrush dominated areas of eastern Oregon, but were eliminated from large areas by the mid 1900s through conversion of land for agricultural purposes. There has been little change in sage-grouse range, however since the 1950s. They live exclusively in sagebrush steppe habitat. During dry years, they may be concentrated in the vicinity of water sources.

Technique: Due to greater sage-grouse fluctuating populations, hunting permits are assigned to specific areas. Permits will be determined annually following spring lek counts and will be conservatively designed to take a small proportion of the estimated population, usually not to exceed five percent. Successful hunters are asked to return to ODFW one wing from each bird they harvest. These wings are used to gather valuable biological data.

Oregon Sage-Grouse Development Siting Tool

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