 Breeding evidence |
 Relative abundance |
 Probability of observation |
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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]
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Atlas Results
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Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:
Although Sharp-tailed Grouse can be found almost everywhere in Saskatchewan, few people take the time to witness the early morning ritualistic courtship dances of these chicken-like birds. Congregating from the surrounding countryside, males gather each spring on a traditional knoll where they establish a dancing ground or lek. First Nations people patterned some of their dances after those of the Sharp-tailed Grouse. Permanent resident from Alaska to the Great Lakes but most common across the prairie provinces and states.
Sharp-tailed Grouse are most abundant in lightly grazed to ungrazed pastures with patches of snowberry and rose, including the Great Sand Hills and the community pastures of the parklands. Intensively or heavily grazed locales, including the Regina Plain and Wood River basin, are less favoured. Further north, they are widespread but uncommon in recent burns and dry bogs north to the southern fringe of the subarctic (Smith 1996).
Sharp-tailed Grouse frequency decreases by vegetation zone as one moves north from the Cypress Hills. The small grain fields of early settlement days improved food supplies for Sharp-tailed Grouse, but cultivation destroyed much of the native prairie, and with it, Sharp-tail nesting and brood-rearing habitat (Edminster 1954). Since Sharp-tailed Grouse require large parcels of native grass-shrub to be successful over time (Pepper 1972), the continued loss of native prairie habitat has reduced populations to a fraction of former numbers.
Original text by Wayne Pepper. Text adapted and expanded upon by Daniel J. Sawatzky
Read more about the Sharp-tailed Grouse in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.
Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Sharp-tailed 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=STGR&lang=en [09 Nov 2025]
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