Lesser Prairie Research Articles

Morphology and Behavior of Greater X Lesser Prairie Chicken Hybrids

Morphology and Behavior of Greater X Lesser Prairie Chicken Hybrids

Predicting Hunting Success from Call Counts of Mourning and White-Winged Doves

Predicting Hunting Success from Call Counts of Mourning and White-Winged Doves

Effects of Lek Disturbances on Lesser Prairie Chickens

Effects of Lek Disturbances on Lesser Prairie Chickens

Fat Content and Flight Range in Shorebirds Summering on Enewetak Atoll

sandy loam soils largely devoted to cultivation of grain sorghum; the balance was rangeland. Our study (Crawford and Bolen, Texas J. Wildl. Manage. 40: 96-104, 1976) of land use and Lesser Prairie Chicken populations in this area has indicated significant positive correlations, respectively, between the percentage of rangeland, percentage of minimum tillage on the cropland, and the percentage of deep sand soils surrounding lek sites. In fact, lek populations in areas where there was only rangeland were not as large as those where there was some amount of cropland.

Fall Diet of Lesser Prairie Chickens in West Texas

Published accounts of feeding habits of the Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) (Zimmerman, Condor 72:475476. 1970: Binford. Calif. Birds 2:139. 1971) include the fact that the species is known to capture small birds on the ground. A. C. Bent (U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 176:45, 1940) briefly mentioned observations of the capture of a swift and a House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) in flight by Roadrunners, which leaped into the air from the ground. However, I find no detailed description in the literature of the aerial capture of a bird. On 28 April 1974, my husband and I were watching and photographing hummingbirds of several species at our window feeders in Portal, Arizona. We became aware that one of our resident pair of Roadrunners was crouched on the roof of a small porch nine feet above ground, just above the hummingbird feeders which hang from wires from the eaves (fig. 1). We had seen it on the ground below the feeders, occasionally leaping into the air in an unsuccessful attempt to catch a bird. Several times the Roadrunner changed position and made tentative passes at the birds. Suddenly it leaped off the roof and snapped up a Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexan&) in flight, landing on the ground with the bird in its beak. I quickly took one picture and then we followed the bird as it ran off, but shortly lost it in brush. Forty minutes later I noted either this same Roadrunner or another running across the yard with another bird in its beak, this one sparrow-sized. The unusual aspect of this incident is that the Roadrunner attacked its flying prey from an elevated perch rather than the ground. On 20 June 1974, we saw a Roadrunner pounding something on the ground by our brush pile, where we have several sugar-water feeders for orioles and hummingbirds, hanging from low branches. We approached the Roadrunner, which ran a short distance and dropped its prey-a Black-chinned Hummingbird that died in less than a minute. We speculate that the Roadrunner caught this hummingbird by jumping into the air from the ground.

Effects of Land Use on Lesser Prairie Chickens in Texas

The impact of land use on lesser prairie chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) populations in west Texas was studied from October 1971 to February 1974. Habitat factors considered were soil type, range condition, grazing intensity, amount and type of cultivation, amount of minimum tillage farming, and plant cover as measured by life-form criteria. Lesser prairie chicken populations were estimated from spring and fall lek censuses. Results indicated that extensive areas of native rangeland interspersed with cropland are required to sustain the population. Lek counts averaged 24 males in the spring and 36 birds in the fall where 5-37 percent of the land was used for grain sorghum production and the remainder composed of native shinnery oak (Quercus havardii) rangeland. Lek populations on areas with 100 percent rangeland averaged 12 males in spring and 26 birds in fall. Under existing methods of land use, areas with less than 63 percent rangeland appear incapable of supporting stable populations of lesser prairie chickens. Minimum-tillage farming enhances food availability, but the greatest potential threat to the remaining lesser prairie chicken populations in west Texas is the additional loss of native rangeland to cultivation. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 40(1):96-104 The former range of the lesser prairie chicken included portions of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and, possibly, southwestern Nebraska (Sharpe 1968:46-51). The species, perhaps never abundant within historical times, has steadily been confined to ever-smaller ranges (Greenway 1958:190). Jackson and DeArment (1963) believed that the birds peaked in Texas about 1900, an increase attributed to patchwork-type farming and the fall and winter food it provided. Overgrazing and extensive cultivation were blamed for the decline in population in the early twentieth century (Bent 1932:280), and with the drought of the 1930's the lesser prairie chickens apparently were nearing extinction (Lee 1950, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1966). However, Davison (1940) found the birds in good body condition despite the drought and attributed the decline to overhunting. In Texas, lek censuses indicated a decrease of 50 percent between 1942 and 1953 despite the protection from hunting given the birds since 1937; habitat destruction and drought again were blamed for the reduced population (Jackson and DeArment 1963). The hunting season in Texas remained closed on lesser prairie chickens until the late 1960's. The lesser prairie chicken population fluctuates widely, this instability perhaps resulting from the birds' dependence on midand tall grasses occurring in regions of low rainfall (Hamerstrom and Hamerstrom 1961). Serious population reductions occur in years of drought and overgrazing. Nonetheless, lesser prairie chickens also rely on shinnery oak and sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia) for resting and escape cover. Jackson and DeArment (1963) believed the removal of these shrubs with herbicides to be one of the major factors affecting lesser prairie chicken populations. They noted that treatment with 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T ruined the habitat, and only after the brush reinvaded the area did any birds return; also, acorn production was pre1 Research Report TTU T-9-148. Noxious Brush and Weed Control Project, College of Agricultural Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock. SPresent address: Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis 97331. ' Present address: Welder Wildlife Foundation, Sinton, Texas 78387. 96 J. Wildl. Manage. 40 (1) :1976 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.183 on Thu, 26 May 2016 05:21:00 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms LESSER PRAIRIE CHICKEN POPULATIONS ? Crawford and Bolen 97 vented for 2 years, thus removing this key winter food and reducing the lesser prairie chicken population. Furthermore, Jackson and DeArment contended that brush removal concurrent with, or followed by, overgrazing can result in habitat changes which the birds cannot tolerate. Contrariwise, Donaldson (1969) found that lesser prairie chickens favored sites in Oklahoma where shinnery oak was treated with 2,4,5-T and sand sagebrush with 2,4-D. The sites were sprayed at least twice and a satisfactory kill was achieved, yet more display grounds and relatively large numbers of birds occurred on the treated sites when these were compared with untreated

Spring lek Activity of the Lesser Prairie Chicken in West Texas

Spring lek Activity of the Lesser Prairie Chicken in West Texas

A Population Study of Lesser Prairie Chickens in New Mexico

A total of 285 lesser prairie chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) were mist-netted in the spring on 16 booming grounds (display grounds) in eastern New Mexico during 1962-70. Life tables, based on capture-recapture data from 3 consistently trapped grounds, were constructed for males only, as comparatively few females were trapped and none was recaptured. The male population underwent virtually a complete turnover in about 5 years. The mean annual overall mortality rate of males was calculated at about 65 percent. Inefficiencies inherent in the trapping method (probable failure to recapture all banded birds present on booming grounds each year) presumably magnified the calculated mortality rate, possibly by about 5 to 10 percent. Age and sex ratios indicate that adult females had a higher mortality rate than adult males. The removal by hunting of about 1,100 birds per year, on the average, over a 12-year period had no observed harmful effect on the population. Recaptures of banded birds suggest that adult males are faithful throughout life to the same booming grounds where they initially established territories, but hunter recoveries show that at least some males shift for feeding purposes in fall and winter to harvested grain fields that may be several miles from their accustomed booming grounds. This paper reports the results of a field study of the lesser prairie chicken on its native range in eastern New Mexico. The work was done in the heart of that range in southern Roosevelt and northern Lea counties. Life tables, based on capturerecapture data, were constructed for the male segment of the population. Biological and behavioral data derived from the hunting harvests are also presented. Several general accounts have been published concerning the lesser prairie chicken in New Mexico (Bailey 1928:207-209, Ligon 1961:89-92, Sands 1968), but published reports of specific research studies on the local populations have been few. The first of these reports appears to be that by Lee (1950); it contains data on age and sex ratios, weights, criteria for determining age and sex, habits, and habitats. Campbell (1950) described a typical instance of the 1A contribution from Federal Aid Project W104-R, New Mexico. often-seen persistent harassment of prairie chickens by wintering marsh hawks (Circus cyaneus). Snyder (1967:121-128), in addition to a general account of the species in the state, summarized some of the technical data from a series of unpublished New Mexico P-R reports by W. S. Huey, G. W. Merrill, L. G. Frary, W. A. Snyder, J. F. Johnson, M. G. Wischnofske, and J. L. Sands. The present paper is based chiefly on these reports, and on several of my later unpublished P-R reports. Portions of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas also have populations of lesser prairie chickens, and investigators in at least the latter two states have published important work on the species. Copelin (1963) published a comprehensive account of lesser prairie chickens in Oklahoma, and Jones (1963) compared in great detail the habitats of the lesser and greater prairie chickens in Oklahoma. Jones (1964) also studied seasonal behavior of various plant species in

Propagation of Prairie Grouse in Captivity

A total of 375 sharp-tailed grouse (Pedioecetes phasianellus) and greater prairie chickens (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus) have been reared in pens for use in pesticide toxicity studies. Maintenance techniques have been developed to keep parasites and disease at a minimum and encourage breeding. Eggs are incubated and hatched mechanically and chicks are started in indoor brooders, then moved to outdoor pens. Key features of our system are: (1) wire-floored pens to minimize disease hazards, (2) 30 square ft of floor space or more per adult grouse when kept in common cages, (3) varied diets meeting growth requirements for chicks and seasonal changes in requirements for adults, (4) a fresh water supply, and (5) dusting boxes to control ectoparasites. ER, R. G., JR. 1966. Simultaneous statistiROSEBERRY, J. L., AND B. J. VERTS. 1963. RelaPrairie grouse propagation in captivity is of interest to conservation agencies and game breeders. The technique is useful for research and also may help restock suitable habitats or even prevent the extinction of a species. Two species, the sharp-tailed grouse and greater prairie chicken, have been reared at Denver since 1963 to produce uncontaminated birds for pesticide toxicity tests and for studies of effects of pesticides upon reproduction. Most species of grouse are difficult to rear in captivity in comparison with the mass production attained with other gallinaceous birds. The most successful grouse breeders were Bump et al. (1947) who raised about 2,000 ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus). Fay (1963) reared 126 ruffed grouse over a 3-year period, but the eggs were collected from wild nests. Blue grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) have been reared in small numbers by Simpson (1935), Smith and Buss (1963), and Stirling (1965). Sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) were propagated by Pyrah (1964). Trautman et al. (1933), Handley (1935), and Ramey (1935) reported propagation attempts with prairie chickens. Ligon (1954) and Coats (1955) had some success with lesser prairie chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) but their work was not continued. Etter (1963) and Shoemaker (1964) have achieved sustained production of greater prairie chickens using semi-natural pens. Lemburg (1962) reared sharp-tailed grouse for several years, producing as many as 80 in one season. The original grouse for the present study were wild-trapped in Nebraska in 1962 and 1963 by K. Menzel of the Game, Forestation and Parks Commission and by the senior author in the Dakotas in 1963. Additional birds were trapped in 1964 by R. E. Wood of the Nebraska Game, Forestation and Parks Commission; F. R. Henderson and W. Jackson of the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks; R. L. Brown of the Montana Department of Fish and Game; and G. Enyeart of the North This content downloaded from 157.55.39.153 on Mon, 19 Sep 2016 05:13:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PROPAGATION OF PRAIRIE GROUSE McEwen et al. 277 f. -t4,_ .? -.' ' . ....P i -. S Fig. 1A. General view of pens used for holding and propagating prairie grouse. Dakota Game and Fish Department. Assistance and advice were provided by many of our colleagues at the Denver Wildlife Research Center and manuscript aid was given by J. Oldemeyer and A. Jones. Ectoparasites were identified by M. Boddicker, South Dakota State University, Brookings. A bacterial infection (Paracolobactrum spp.) was diagnosed by H. Breen of the Colorado State University Diagnostic Laboratory and by P. A. Smith of Lakewood, Colorado.

The Natal Plumage of the Lesser Prairie Chicken

The Natal Plumage of the Lesser Prairie Chicken

Habitat Used by Lesser Prairie Chickens for Feeding Related to Seasonal Behavior of Plants in Beaver County, Oklahoma

Habitat Used by Lesser Prairie Chickens for Feeding Related to Seasonal Behavior of Plants in Beaver County, Oklahoma

The Specific Distinctness of the Greater and Lesser Prairie Chickens

SOME disagreement exists as to whether the Lesser Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) and the Greater Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) are distinct species or members of the same polytypic species. Aldrich and Duvall (1955: 8) have considered these birds to be conspecific, although without argument other than the statement: . . we find no characters that differ from those of the other prairie chickens, except in degree; thus, only a racial difference is indicated. The A.O.U. Check-list of North American birds (1957), however, continues to agree with Peters (1934: 41), Ridgway and Friedmann (1946: 219), and earlier workers, and lists them as separate species. The essentials of the past and present distributions of the prairie chickens are shown by Baker (1953: 5) and by Aldrich and Duvall (1955: 8-9). The Greater Prairie Chicken occupies, or has occupied, a wide, gradually changing, partially disjunct range in the eastern and central United States and is undramatically polytypic. Of the races T. c. pinnatus, attwateri, and cupido, the last (or Heath Hen of the north Atlantic coast) is extinct and attwateri is threatened with extinction (Auk, 80: 360, 1963). The Lesser Prairie Chicken occupies a comparatively small range to the southwest of the Greater, today occurring in eastern Colorado and New Mexico, western Kansas and Oklahoma, and northern Texas. It is monotypic. While the morphological characters that separate the Greater and Lesser prairie chickens may differ only in degree, the degree seems greater to my eye than that separating the several races of the Greater Prairie Chicken, especially with regard to coloration and markings. Since the study of behavior has already been used to throw light on the evolutionary trends in North American and European grouse, for example by Wing (1946), Scott (1950), and Hamerstrom and Hamerstrom (1960), the present study was undertaken with the hope that similarities and differences in courtship behavior, as well as in behavior through the remainder of the year, might help in assessing the validity of recognizing these two prairie chickens as distinct species. The data here presented have been obtained by observing the birds on the booming and feeding grounds, by flushing them from coverts, and by tracking them in the snow, sand, and mud.

The Lesser Prairie Chicken in the Texas Panhandle

Trends in populations of lesser prairie chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) in the Texas Panhandle were investigated by censusing drumming grounds annually on two study areas during a 10-year period, 1952-62, for comparison with data from a census of the same areas in 1942. Severe drops in populations came in 1952. The decline was triggered by onset of a major drouth lasting through 1956, but populations did not increase during a series of good rainfall years starting with 1957. Changing land-use practices are responsible for keeping lesser prairie chickens at low population levels in the Texas Panhandle. The more important of these are overgrazing of cattle range, particularly in dry weather, resulting in displacement of the tall grasses; accelerated programs of aerial spraying with herbicides for brush control; and combine harvesting of grain sorghum in place of storage by stacking and shocking in the field. The range of the lesser prairie chicken has been mapped (Fig. 1) as extending over most of the grasslands of western Texas, north and east of a line from Loving and Pecos counties east to Sutton and Kimble counties, and thence northeast through Concho, Callahan, and Clay counties (Texas Game, Fish, and Oyster Commission. 1945. Principal game birds and mammals of Texas. 147pp.). The exact limits of the original range of the lesser prairie chicken cannot be clearly defined, for few early records make a distinction between the lesser prairie chicken and the greater (T. cupido pinnatus), which was also a native of north and central Texas. Even during the time of wide distribution, the lesser prairie chicken may have been only a winter migrant in the southernmost part of its range in Texas. A number of the earliest settlers of Throckmorton and Young counties, when interviewed during the 1930's, were in agreement that the prairie chicken was confined to the sandy grasslands to the north during the breeding season. They knew the prairie chicken only as a winter migrant. Sometime about the turn of the last century, the lesser prairie chicken is believed to have reached its greatest abundance in the Texas Panhandle. A patchwork of homesteader farms interrupted the continuity of the grasslands without any great amount of infringement on the area of the latter, and the introduction of dryland grain sorghums provided a supplemental source of winter food for the prairie chicken. These years of greatest abundance were also years of unrestricted slaughter. Railways ran specials for sportsmen to such towns as Higgins in Lipscomb County and placed iced cars on sidings for preservation of the kill. By 1930, cultivated land was encroaching on Panhandle grasslands to the point of restricting the prairie chicken range and blocking ancestral travel patterns. In the meantime, prairie chickens had established the habit of feeding on winter grain shocks, thus becoming more vulnerable to hunters and indignant farmers alike. Finally, the great drouth beginning in 1934 accented the plight of the prairie chicken by depressing the population to a scarcity level hitherto unknown. The Texas Legislature halted legal hunting in 1937 by passage of a 5-year closed season. There has been no 'A contribution from the Wildlife Restoration Division, Texas Game and Fish Commission, Federal Aid Projects W-11-D and W-45-R.

The Lesser Prairie Chicken in Colorado

Lesser prairie chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), now rare though increasing in numbers in Colorado, were once fairly common in the southeastern part of the state, particularly in the area south of the Arkansas River. Information indicates that this species was probably once found in at least six counties: Baca, Prowers, Bent, Kiowa, Lincoln, and Cheyenne. Populations are thought to have occurred in earlier days in both the mixed prairie plant communities and the sand sagebrushgrassland plant communities. The species has been observed in Colorado during the period 1959 through 1962 only within the sand sagebrush-grassland plant communities and bordering cultivated fields. A major reduction in lesser prairie chicken range and numbers in Colorado apparently coincided with the general pasture depletion during the dust-bowl conditions of the 1930's. Populations have been censused through spring counts of cocks on booming grounds from 1959 through 1962. The numbers of cocks counted on the grounds have steadily increased over the 4-year period from 6 on three grounds in the spring of 1959 to 104 on thirteen grounds in the spring of 1962. Practices which have benefited the species in recent years include improved grassland management through rotation of pastures, moderate livestock use, and grass reseeding programs. Improved moisture conditions have also benefited the species. This paper presents the results of a basic inventory study on the lesser prairie chicken in Colorado. The investigations resulted from a lack of knowledge of the species by the Colorado Department of Game, Fish and Parks and from interest in the species by U. S. Forest Service personnel of the Comanche National Grasslands, with headquarters in Springfield, Colorado. The U. S. Forest Service controls approximately 260,000 acres of grazing lands in southern Baca and southeastern Las Animas counties. These lands were purchased from private landowners during the dust-bowl days of the 1930's. Many of these tracts are located within historical lesser prairie chicken range. Scattered sightings of prairie chickens by landowners and others during recent years indicated the species was still found in some areas in southeastern Colorado prior to the initiation of the study. I wish to thank E. E. Miller, U. S. Forest Service, Springfield, Colorado, and J. H. De Vore, U. S. Forest Service, Elkhart, Kansas, for their interest and assistance during the study; W. D. Snyder, Colorado Department of Game, Fish and Parks, Springfield, Colorado, for assistance in the field work of locating and counting populations; F. F. Copelin, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, for va uable advice on census techniques and habits of the species; and Dr. A. M. Bailey, Denver Museum of Natural History, for historical information.

Note on the Behavior of Marsh Hawks toward Lesser Prairie Chickens

Note on the Behavior of Marsh Hawks toward Lesser Prairie Chickens

Kill Analysis for the Lesser Prairie Chicken in New Mexico, 1949

Kill Analysis for the Lesser Prairie Chicken in New Mexico, 1949

Prairie Chickens in Kansas

Two living species of the true prairie grouse (genus Tympanuchus) are known(); these are T. cupido and T. pallidicinctus. Tympanuchus cupido is separable into two subspecies; (1) the greater prairie chicken (T.c. pinnatus) ranging from northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas northeast to Indiana and Ohio, and north into Canada and (2) the Attwater prairie chicken (T.c. attwateri) now limited to the coastal prairies of Texas and Southwestern Louisiana. Tympanuchus pallidicinctus, the lesser prairie chicken, occurs from southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado through the Oklahoma Panhandle and into western Texas and eastern New Mexico. Thus, both the greater and lesser prairie chickens occur in Kansas where both are at the periphery of their ranges rather than at the centers of the areas of distribution.

An 8-Year Census of Lesser Prairie Chickens

requirement. Methods of enumeration, to be widely useful, must be dependaable, inexpensive, and even more important, they must be applicable by such game managers as farmers, ranchers, and local wardens untrained in biology. Trained biologists have the responsibility of developing accurate and practicable ways of censusing game birds and mammals and of extending this knowledge wherever needed. The habits of animals vary so greatly that effective observations concerning numbers must be planned with reference to the species concerned. The census method and the results described