The gray grouse, a wild species native to northern Utah and much of the Intermountain West, is still very poorly understood scientifically—it was only reclassified as a separate species from another grouse species in 2006. A researcher at Utah State University is working to close this knowledge gap.
If you listen to the audio file, at this moment you will hear the sound of a wireless grouse tracking device at Temple Fork in Logan Canyon.
“So the mother’s transmitter is much stronger because she can carry more weight, so if we find her first, her chicks will always stay with her,” said Logan Clark, a doctoral student in USU’s Wildlife Biology program who studies the life history of these mysterious birds.
“We check in every other day to make sure the chicks are still alive and will stay with their mother throughout the summer,” Clark said.
Clark said that until recently, the Dusky Grouse, a large, dark-brown forest bird native to the inland western United States and Canada, was thought to be the same species as the Sooty Grouse, which is found primarily in west coast forests.
“And a lot of the work, research and literature has been done on sooty grouse, mostly in the ’60s through the ’80s,” Clark said. “And very little has been done on the dark grouse, particularly in terms of life history,” he said. “And it turns out they have quite a complicated life history.”
Clark said that in winter, the grouse migrate to mountain peaks, where they feed exclusively on conifer needles.
“And then, around March or early April, they may migrate not just down a hill, but sometimes up to 20 miles and over several ridges to get to their preferred breeding site. Then they arrive in an area like this, like Temple Fork, with these rolling hills of sage, interspersed with little patches of aspen, conifers and maple,” Clark said.
In addition to the wild grouse equipped with transmitters, he also has microphones distributed throughout the forest, volunteer observers, hunting reports and other research tools.
“It’s a wild species, so we’re looking for ideal ways to monitor it,” Clark said.
Given the limited knowledge of this little-studied species, monitoring the grouse is critical. Fortunately, the project has support. It is housed at USU Extension and is primarily funded by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and the Utah Chukar and Wildlife Foundation.
Note: The “woooo” at the end of this piece is the mating call of the male grey partridge, the video is by Logan Clark, the call is from xeno-canto.org.
