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Spruce Grouse were found across the boreal forest in 140 atlas squares. The southern extent of observations include Duck Mountain, the Pasquia and Porcupine Hills, as well as the island forests of Canwood and Fort à la Corne. A largely silent forest dweller, Spruce Grouse was only detected on 10 in-person point counts, with additional detections made at 130 point count locations where bioacoustic recordings from autonomous recording units were made. Given their heavy reliance on camouflage and silent nature, it is likely that Spruce Grouse were regularly missed while atlassing in the boreal.

Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:

This small, dark grouse is known for its relative tameness. It is sometimes seen at roadsides and often sits still as vehicles approach. If it flies when flushed, it does not fly far. "Because of its confiding habits, which make it easy prey for hunters, and because it requires extensive tracts of undisturbed forest, the Spruce Grouse has not adjusted well to civilization? (Smith 1996). A permanent resident of Rocky Mountain and boreal forests from Alaska to Labrador south to the northern contiguous US.

The Spruce Grouse is a denizen of all types of coniferous and mixedwood forests. As the species feeds heavily on conifer needles, it is rare in, or absent from, deciduous forests. Its range-wide preferences for the needles of pine over spruce, and white spruce over black spruce, suggest that it may be most common in pine woods, and least common in spruce bogs. The species also prefers young successional stands that are fairly dense with a relatively well-developed middle storey (Boag and Schroeder 1992).

In Saskatchewan, the Spruce Grouse is rare or absent from the now mainly settled and cultivated transition forest portion of the southern boreal forest. It remains a fairly common permanent resident throughout the rest of the southern boreal, and in the northern boreal and the subarctic woodland zones (Smith 1996).

Original text by Brenda Schmidt. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky

Read more about the Spruce Grouse in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.

LeeAnn M. Latremouille

Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Spruce 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=SPGR&lang=en [09 Nov 2025]