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Stuart Elementary CGC Sage Grouse Project - Page 1   

Mrs. Telford's class

Tegan - Sage grouse live in Idaho and Wyoming.  The sage grouse lay eggs in sagebrush so when they hatch they can eat the sagebrush to grow strong.

Arren -   A male can be up to 75 cm (30 in.) long and weigh 4 pounds.  A female can lay up to 10 to 15 eggs.  A female is called hen.  A lot of sage grouses are called a covey.

Kuade - Every year during March winter begins to change into spring.  If you look very careful you can see a flower or two.  But out in the sagebrush, winter is turning into spring, too.  Something strange is happening.  In Idaho Sage Grouse are coming out!

Jason - Every year in March when spring begins to bloom and flowers come up and the grass turns green its the same time of the year for the Sage Grouse.  In fact its a special time of the year.  It's mating time.

Chandler  -  As soon as you know what the sage grouse males sound like, you will smile a little bit.

John - When sage grouse need a mate, it goes "BA-LOOMP, BA-LOOMP."  Sometimes you can hear them a long way away.  In the winter, some don't make it and some do.

Kayden - Pretend as if you were a sage grouse.  Well you'd be making a really loud popping noise.  If you cup your hands, then you clap them together.  It will make the popping sound! 

Kyle -  A sage grouse mates in a place called a strutting ground.  A male shows off for the females by fanning out their tail feathers and parade like a turkey.  Then they fluff air in and out of air sacs on their neck.  This makes a sound that sounds like a drum.  For about two months the sage grouse try to get a mate. 

Kate O. - Big males show off for the females.  They fan out their tail feathers and strut around like turkeys.  Next, they really try to get the girls attention.  They puff air in and out of big air sacs on their neck and make a sound like this: "BA-LOOMP...BA-LOOMP."  Can you imagine 100 sage grouse BA-LOOMPING at each other as they sun comes up?  That would be a pretty crazy sight to see.

On a quiet day you can hear them booming a long way off and you can see the big air sacs covered with white feathers.  Sage grouse show up at the strutting grounds every day for about 2 months, even if it snows.

Ty - By the end of May, mating is finished.  The females go and lay eggs.  When the eggs hatch, the babies look like baby chicks.  They stick close to their mother so they don't get hurt.

The babies eat bugs and beetles.  Later they eat sagebrush leaves.  Sagebrush leaves have a lot of fat in them so they are good for the babies.

Kylee - When the females have babies, they need to stay close to them.  That is because they have enemies too.  Hawks, skunks, foxes, and other animals will try to eat them.  The birds must be aware so they do not get eaten by these animals.  I hope that the females are good mothers because I would NOT want my babies to be eaten!!

Conrad - By September the babies look like adults so sage grouse grow quickly.  Some people hunt for sage grouse and eat them.  Some people like it and some people don't.

Michaela - The female Sage Grouse are gray, and brown, and scarlet, orange and black.  So are the males, but they do not have gray.  They eat sagebrush.  Also they nest in it.  They live in the sagebrush. They do not fly south for the winter.  They stay in the sagebrush.

Court - Sage grouse love to eat sagebrush.   Sagebrush helps sage grouse live.  Through the winter sagebrush dies and so does the bugs and if there is no food the sage grouses die.  They don't fly south or hibernate through the winter.  

Rachel - The main reason why the Sage Grouse is in danger is because fires.  There is a lot of fires in Idaho.  Fires kill the sagebrush!  That's what the Sage Grouse eats.

Kate O. - Their enemies are hawks, skunks, foxes and other animals that eat them.  Sometimes sage grouse don't live through the winter.  Drought is the biggest danger to sage grouse because it reduces how many ants, beetles, and sagebrush leaves are around for them to eat. 

Katie L. -   40 years ago hunters took them [sage grouse] by the dozens.  Now the sage grouse are disappearing.  Truly you can tell that sage grouse are important.  But you never want to kill them.

Kylee  - Sage Grouse need sagebrush to survive.  If too much of the sagebrush is destroyed, the birds will need to hurry and find more of it to live.  It is really important that they have lots of sagebrush.  Don't destroy the sagebrush, or kill the sage grouse.