Status, Movements, Habitats, and Foods of Prairie Grouse on a Sandhills Refuge

Sharp-tailed grouse (Pedioecetes phasianellus) are maintaining high population densities on Valentine National Wildlife Refuge in the Nebraska sandhills, but prairie chickens (Tympanuchus cupi- do) are much less numerous. Sharptails are permanent residents on the refuge, but prairie chickens ap- parently leave during the winter months. Dispersal of 35 sharptails from winter feeding stations to dancing grounds averaged 0.9 mile (extremes 0.2-3.3 miles). Of the 35 marked sharptails sighted on dancing grounds, 20 had moved to the dancing ground nearest the feeding station. Movements of one sharptail female from a dancing ground to a nest site (2 miles) were monitored by radio telemetry. One sharptail male was followed through the summer months by the same method; it moved about 2.5 miles from the dancing ground. Three-fourths of all breeding grounds (dancing grounds of sharptails or boom- ing grounds of prairie chickens) were on mowed wetland sites. The diet of juvenile sharptails, to 10 weeks of age, consisted mostly of insects. At 12 weeks of age the diet was like that of the adults, over 90 percent vegetable matter. Volumetrically, the most important food items for adults were clovers (Trifolium spp.), rose (Rosa sp.), sand cherry (Prunus besseyi), and common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). Mowing of wetlands appeared to be beneficial for maintenance of important foods such as clovers and possibly for maintenance of breeding grounds.