A small town throws a big party - for a bird

Male sage grouse strutting. BILL SCHIESS photo

DUBOIS, ID. - The eighth annual Dubois Grouse Day festival that celebrates grouse and their habitat is set for Friday and Saturday, April 16 and 17.

Organizers hope the event promotes conservation of our western rangeland heritage. It's also a fundraiser for sage- and sharptailed grouse conservation and education projects and the Kent L. Christopher Conservation Scholarship for a local high school senior.

Every spring, sage- and sharp-tailed grouse congregate on traditional strutting - dancing grounds in sagebrush habitat, called leks. To experience these birds during their mating rituals is a rare treat, because their habitat has diminished throughout the West year after year due to development and other factors.

During the festival, participants visit leks. watch grouse strut and dance, listen to their amazing "popping" sounds, learn about the natural history of their high desert environment, tour a model conservation program area for greater sage-grouse, talk with ranchers and professional biologists working to conserve grouse, and much more. Special arrangements for photographing the birds from blinds are offered to photographers.

Come prepared! Spring weather conditions and changes can be extreme in the high desert. Temperatures are often around freezing in the early morning, later warming into the 50's. It could snow or rain with a cold wind. Bring layered clothing, a camera. binoculars, water, and snacks.

The celebration begins with a social and light dinner at 4 p. m. at the Clark County Junior and Senior High School. Tim Reynolds will give a presentation on African wildlife at 5:30 p. m. Friday at Lindy Ross Elementary.

Gather at 5 a.m. Saturday at Lindy Ross Elementary School to leave for the grouse lek tours, or to The Nature Conservancy's Crooked Creek Ranch.

A banquet is set for Saturday at Lindy Ross Elementary School. Jim Hagenbarth, a local rancher, is the keynote speaker. Joel Billman will cater the meal, with salads furnished by BYU of Idaho Catering in Rexburg. There will be meat and vegetarian items. Saturday's raffle will be of items donated by many different vendors and will include birdhouses, gift certificates, and framed artwork. There will be a separate raffle for a Browning BPS shotgun with custom engraving by Bev Gilger of Dubois.

Displays:

Safari Club International will have a wildlife display and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game will have a skins and skulls display Friday and Saturday at Lindy Ross Elementary.

Saturday April 17:

Dedication of the Kent L. Christopher habitat rehabilitation project at Camas National Wildlife Refuge, honoring the late Kent L. Christopher, founder of Dubois Grouse Days, 11:45 - 12:45 p.m. at Camas Wildlife Refuge.

Teton Raptor Center presentation, 2 - 3 p.m. at Clark County High School.

Christy Howe, Bureau of Land Management, 3 - 3:30 p.m. - raven study presentation at Lindy Ross Elementary.

Scott Bergen, Bureau of Land Management. 4:30 - 5 p.m. - pronghorn study presentation at Lindy Ross Elementary.

Kendra Womack and Jason Pyron, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 3:30 - 5 p.m. - endangered species presentation at Lindy Ross Elementary.

Cost: Package Special- 2 adults, 3 children 12 & under - $45 (no banquet) $65 (includes banquet). For all Sat. events: Adults $30, Children $10. Bus tours only: Adults $20. Children $5: Banquet only: Adult $15, Children - 1 free per paying adult.

Photo blind spaces are separate from the bus tour and cost $35. Blinds are small and best used by one photographer.

Preregister at www.grousedays.org

Registrations postmarked by April 5 will be eligible for an Early Bird Drawing.

Registration forms can also be picked up from Jeff Liday - call 208.313.2730. Or, call and ask him to e-mail you one.

Accommodations:

Dubois. Crossroads Motel 208.374.5258 and the Hernandez Hotel 208.374.5644. Tent and R.V. camping are available free of charge.

Additional lodging is in Rexburg and Idaho Falls.

Directions. Take Interstate 15 north to Dubois Exit 167, turn east (right) into town and follow the signs.

Travel from Island Park area west across Yale-KilgoreRoad.

The Dubois Grouse Days Committee plans the event. Sponsors include the North American Grouse Partnership, the Upper Valley Sage Grouse Local Working Group. Idaho Department of Fish and Game, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Clark County Stockgrowers. the North American Falconers Association. Northwestern Energy, Rocky Mountain Power, and the people and businesses of Dubois.

Kent L. Christopher Sagebrush Restoration Project at Camas NWR.

Kent Christopher was born on August 4, 1953. He died from injuries in a skiing accident on March 23, 2008. A skilled falconer, he was an organizer of the North American Grouse Partnership and the founder of Dubois Grouse Days. He was a champion of sage grouse conservation in the open spaces of the Upper Snake River Plain, where the sky is wide and the hawks fly high.

With sage grouse populations in Idaho near an all time low, the goal of this project is to improve brood rearing habitat for grouse nesting nearby. The effort begin in 2007 when funding and support was secured from the Rocky Mountain Foundation, the Upper Snake Sage Grouse Local Working Group, the Idaho Office of Species Conservation, North American Grouse Partnership, Dubois Grouse Days, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Phase I of on-the-ground rehabilitation began in 2008 on a 20-acre plot of formerly irrigated cropland to demonstrate the feasibility of returning abandoned agricultural land to premier sage grouse brood rearing habitat.

This restoration project is the result of Kent Christopher's vision. May his spirit forever soar like a hawk.

All About Greater Sage Grouse

The Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is the largest grouse in North America, up to 30 inches long and two feet tall, weighing from two to seven pounds. Its long, pointed tail and distinctive drab gray and white plumage distinguish it from all other North American grouse, except the Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus).

Recently recognized as a distinct species. the Gunnison sage-grouse is similar in appearance but about 30% smaller and lighter in color than the greater sage grouse. Male Gunnison sage grouse have shorter, more distinctively barred tail feathers than male greater sage grouse. Males of both species are larger than the females and possess prominent white upper breast feathers.

During the breeding season, males develop large air sacs on their breasts and special ornamental contour feathers called filoplumes that arise from the dorsal base of the neck. The filoplumes of male Gunnison sage grouse are longer and thicker than those of greater sage grouse males.

Sagebrush plants dominate the diet of adult sage grouse throughout the year, but are especially important during winter. Hens consume forbs during pre-laying and by all age and sex classes during summer. Insects are critical for juveniles during the first three to four weeks of life, with forbs increasing in the diet as the juveniles age. Adults also eat insects in spring and summer.

Males gather on traditional breeding areas known as leks or strutting grounds to perform elaborate displays and vocalizations to attract females for breeding. The strut display differs between the two species. Male Gunnison sage grouse display at a slower rate, pop their air sacs more frequently, toss their heads more vigorously to display their filoplumes, and terminate the display with a tail wag. Yearling males seldom attempt to breed and only 10-15% of the adult males actually are successful at mating on the lek.

They are ground nesters and prefer to construct their nest under sagebrush plants with higher residual cover than occurs randomly within the sagebrush community. Females lay an average of seven to nine eggs that are olive-buff to greenish-brown with small dark brown spots. The incubation period lasts 25 to 29 days. Nesting success is highly variable, but usually averages between 40 - 60%. Both adult and sub-adult hens will attempt to nest, but adults tend to be more successful than sub-adults and exhibit a greater tendency to re-nest if the first nest is destroyed. On average, 40 - 50% of the hens will successfully hatch a clutch of eggs.

Sage grouse raise one brood per year. The chicks are fully feathered and capable of for-aging on their own at hatching. They can sustain short flights at 10 to 14 days of age and become independent of the brood hen at 10 to 12 weeks of age.

Although sage grouse congregate on leks and nest on the ground, behaviors that should subject them to higher predation rates, their larger size limits the number of predator - especially avian predators. Thus, sage grouse tend to have higher survival rates than other species of grouse with females surviving at a higher rate than males.

The distribution and abundance of sage grouse have declined dramatically throughout the range for both species. The primary threats to sage grouse population include habitat loss, degradation. and fragmentation due to conversion of native sagebrush communities to croplands and pasture for livestock, livestock grazing in sagebrush communities, herbicide treatment, invasion of nonnative plants, encroachment of conifers. unnatural fire regimes. and energy development.

This is part of the online edition of Henry's Fork Country.

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