Greater Prairie-Chicken
(Tympanuchus cupido)

Overview

Summary

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The Greater Prairie-Chicken was formerly found in grasslands from southern Ontario west across the prairies to Alberta. It was abundant in parts of that range, particularly Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but began declining on the prairies by the 1920s and had essentially disappeared by the 1980s (Houston 2002). It is now listed as Extirpated by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC 2009h). This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• NatureServe
• Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1993-2012)

Migration strategy, occurrence

Conservation and management

While market hunting played a role in the initial declines, much of the later decline and disappearance of the Greater Prairie-Chicken can be attributed to the loss of native mixed-grass and tallgrass prairie habitat to intensive agriculture (Johnson et al. 2011). The species benefits from 20-30% of grassland being in crop but do poorly once that is exceeded (Johnson et al. 2011). For information on the legal status of this species under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) and to view available recovery documents, see the SARA Registry.

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• COSEWIC. 2009h. COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Greater Prairie–Chicken Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. vi + 28 pp. COSEWIC. 2009h. COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Greater Prairie–Chicken Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. vi + 28 pp. (Link)
• Houston, C.S. 2002. Spread and disappearance of the Greater Prairie-Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido, on the Canadian Prairies and adjacent areas. Canadian Field-Naturalist 116:1–21.
• Johnson, J.A., M. A. Schroeder and L. A. Robb. 2011. Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Johnson, J.A., M. A. Schroeder and L. A. Robb. 2011. Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)