Volume 45, Number 1,
September 1998:
Greater Prairie Chicken Management

Text-only version

ISSUE HOME PAGE

ABOUT THIS ISSUE
- about KSN
- about the author

IN THIS ISSUE
- introduction
- what is a greater prairie chicken?
- habitat
- managing habitat
- booming grounds
- booming ground survey
- nesting
- broods
- fall and winter habitat
- summary
- decreasers/increasers/ invaders
- jump shooting/pass shooting
- further reading

SLIDESHOW
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Greater Prairie Chicken Management
by Gerald J. Horak and Roger D. Applegate

INTRODUCTION
Populations of the greater prairie chicken in Kansas have been steadily declining for the past 30 years, according to surveys by the Department of Wildlife and Parks (Figure 1). These declines have been most evident in eastern Kansas. Populations in the Flint Hills have remained relatively stable during this period. Numbers of greater prairie chickens in north central Kansas have increased locally in the past ten years.

WHAT IS A GREATER PRAIRIE CHICKEN?
The greater prairie chicken, scientific name Tympanuchus cupido, is shown on the cover. It can be distinguished from the lesser prairie chicken, Tympanuchus pallidicinctus, shown in Figure 2 since it is slightly smaller and lighter in color. The lesser prairie chicken has red rather than orange skin covering the air sacs at the neck. Also, the yellow combs over the eyes are larger than in greater prairie chickens. Their sounds are more a short "gobble" than a long "booming."

HABITAT
The greater prairie chicken is a species that does best in tallgrass prairies with a mix of 75% grassland and 25% cropland. Prairie chickens will survive in areas with less grassland, such as 50% grassland and 50% crops. And they can live in blocks of total grassland if the grass in these areas is properly managed.

In Kansas, greater prairie chickens inhabit diverse areas from the mid-grass prairie, found in the north central part of the state, to the seeded tame grass areas in the southeast. But their stronghold is the native tallgrass prairie of the Flint Hills. Our studies have shown that prairie chickens are adaptable and can be managed by furnishing a grassland habitat that provides for their daily and seasonal requirements. To fulfill these conditions, a landowner must adopt or encourage the use of grassland management practices that provide the best grass for chicken populations, yet are compatible with a productive livestock operation. Tools used by the grassland manager that are adaptable to good prairie chicken and livestock management include burning, grazing, and fencing.

MANAGING HABITAT
This booklet describes the needs of prairie chickens for maintaining a healthy wild population. Landowners can review these habitat practices and mange their field accordingly. Prairie chickens will use most of the habitats found in a grazed tallgrass prairie, from the lightly grazed areas for nesting to overgrazed areas for booming grounds. Proper proportions and a mixture of grazing pressure is the goal of the manager. Grassland areas that prairie chickens can walk through, see over, hide in, and feed from, will provide the necessary requirements to perpetuate their populations. With declining chicken populations in parts of the Kansas range, it is necessary for landowners to make extra effort to maintain suitable habitat. Otherwise, we may never see population levels similar to those in the past.

To understand this unique bird's living requirements, it is important to understand its special mating and nesting behavior, and how the hens shelter and move their broods. It is also necessary to be able to classify the characteristics of prairie rangeland.