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The greater prairie-chicken or pinnated grouse (Tympanuchus cupido), sometimes called a boomer, [2] is a large bird in the grouse family.This North American species was once abundant, but has become extremely rare and extirpated over much of its range due to habitat loss. [2]
The sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus), also known as the sharptail or fire grouse, is a medium-sized prairie grouse.One of three species in the genus Tympanuchus, the sharp-tailed grouse is found throughout Alaska, much of Northern and Western Canada, and parts of the Western and Midwestern United States.
All three are among the smaller grouse, from 40 to 43 cm (16 to 17 in) in length. They are found in North America in different types of prairie.In courtship display on leks, males make hooting sounds and dance with the head extended straight forward, the tail up, and colorful neck sacks inflated (shown in the photograph at upper right).
The prairie and forest species have declined greatly because of habitat loss, though popular game birds such as the red grouse and the ruffed grouse have benefited from habitat management. Most grouse species are listed by the IUCN as "least concern" or "near threatened", but the greater and lesser prairie chicken are listed as "vulnerable" and ...
Ruffed grouse is the preferred common name because it applies only to this species. Misleading vernacular names abound, however, and it is often called partridge (sometimes rendered pa'tridge, or shortened to pat), [7] pheasant, or prairie chicken, all of which are properly applied to other birds. [8]
The lesser prairie-chicken's habitat has been reduced by 85%, and their population has declined by about 97% since 1800, in part due to unrestricted hunting. [7] Of the remaining patches of suitable habitat, only around 0.1% are sufficiently contiguous to sustain even a minimum population of the birds.
Attwater's prairie-chicken has been on the endangered species list since March 1967 when an estimated 1,070 birds were left in the wild. [11] By 2003, fewer than 50 birds remained in the wild. In 1999, The Nature Conservancy decided to permit new drilling close to primary breeding grounds on Texas land owned by the Conservancy.
The heath hen (Tympanuchus cupido cupido) is an extinct subspecies of the greater prairie chicken (Tympanuchus cupido), a large North American bird in the grouse family. It became extinct in 1932. Heath hens lived in the scrubby heathland barrens of coastal North America from southernmost New Hampshire to northern Virginia in historical times.