Greater Prairie-Chicken

The Greater Prairie-Chicken is a medium-large grouse of the North American tallgrass prairie, historically abundant across the Midwest but now much reduced by the conversion of native grassland to cropland. Both sexes are boldly barred overall in brown, buff, and white, giving a distinctly striped appearance unlike the more mottled pattern of forest grouse. Males have prominent elongated neck feathers called pinnae, which are raised like small "horns" during display, along with bare, orange-yellow air sacs on the sides of the neck.

Key field marks

• Strongly barred brown, buff, and white plumage overall (unlike mottled forest grouse)
• Short, rounded, dark tail (blackish in males, barred in females)
• Males show erect pinnae feathers and orange-yellow neck air sacs during display

Similar species

Lesser Prairie-Chicken is smaller and paler overall with more reddish-orange neck sacs, and its range is limited to the southern Great Plains with essentially no overlap with the Greater Prairie-Chicken. Sharp-tailed Grouse has a pointed tail and V-marked (not barred) underparts.

Habitat and Range

Greater Prairie-Chickens require large, contiguous expanses of native or high-quality restored tallgrass and mixed-grass prairie for nesting, feeding, and lekking, and are highly sensitive to habitat fragmentation.

Range

Historically found across the tallgrass prairie region from the Great Lakes states to the central and southern Great Plains, the species now survives in scattered, often isolated populations in states such as Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Illinois, having disappeared from much of its former eastern range; the extinct Heath Hen of the Atlantic coast was a former subspecies.

Migration

Greater Prairie-Chickens are largely non-migratory, though some populations make modest seasonal movements in response to snow cover and food availability.

Behavior

Males gather each spring on traditional leks known as "booming grounds," where they compete through synchronized foot-stamping, wing displays, and inflation of their orange neck air sacs.

Voice

The display produces a deep, resonant, three-syllable "booming" sound from the inflated air sacs, audible over a mile on a still morning, along with cackles and whines during territorial disputes.

Feeding

Diet shifts seasonally, with leaves, buds, and waste grain important in fall and winter and insects and seeds more prominent in spring and summer, especially for growing chicks.

Nesting and breeding

Females nest on the ground in dense grass cover, often a mile or more from the lek, laying about 10-12 eggs and raising the brood alone.