Photo: May Haga
 Breeding evidence |
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Click on plot to view table of mean abundance
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Number of squares
Long-term BBS trends
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Mean abundance (number of birds detected per 5 min. point count) and percentage of squares occupied by region Bird Conservation Regions [abund. plot]
[%squares plot]
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Atlas Results
Atlas results coming soon
Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:
The Greater Sage-Grouse is North America's largest grouse, a bird characteristic of habitats dominated by sagebrush (Schroeder et al. 1999). In extreme southwestern Saskatchewan, a few still inhabit silver [hoary] sagebrush grasslands and each spring they congregate at leks during the early morning hours (Harris and Weidl 1988). The Sage-Grouse is resident locally from central Washington, Montana, southeastern Alberta, southwestern Saskatchewan, southwestern North Dakota, western South Dakota, and extreme northwestern Nebraska, south to western Colorado and then west to south-central Nevada, southern Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and eastern California.
Because of their obligate diet of sage plants these grouse do not survive outside the range of sagebrush in Saskatchewan. Sagebrush habitats are now among the most imperiled biomes in North America (Knick et al. 2003). Habitat quality is an issue also because the remaining areas of suitable habitat are being subjected to fragmentation from energy development, road construction, and associated activities (EC 2014c).
Circa 1960 the Sage-Grouse range in Saskatchewan stretched, thinly and sporadically, as far north as the Great Sand Hills near Verlo, and the Saskatchewan Landing (Roy 1996). By the time of a 1988 survey (Harris and Weidl 1988) its range had shrunk to within the Missouri River drainage. The population at that time was estimated to be 670 males at 30 occupied leks (22.3 males/lek). By 1994-1996 the Canadian range had fragmented into three areas: extreme southeast Alberta contiguous with extreme southwest Saskatchewan, and the west and east blocks of Grasslands National Park (COSEWIC 2000). In 2014, there were 8 males counted on 3 leks, but in 2015 an encouraging 20 males were counted on 3 leks.
Original text by Susan McAdam. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky
Read more about the Greater Sage-Grouse in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.
Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Greater Sage-Grouse in Latremouille, L. M., S. L. Van Wilgenburg, C. B. Jardine, D. Lepage, A. R. Couturier, D. Evans, D. Iles, and K. L. Drake (eds.). 2025. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Saskatchewan, 2017-2021. Birds Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan https://sk.birdatlas.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=GRSG&lang=en [16 Mar 2026]
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