This will be the last in our series of photo studies of North American grouse. In our first grouse study in Issue 123, we also had 2 pages of reference on sage-grouse and 4 pages on ruffed grouse. Additional photos of ruffed grouse start on page 70 of this issue.
GREATER SAGE-GROUSE (Centrocercus urophasianus) are the largest grouse in North America. They were known as simply sage grouse until the Gunnison sage-grouse was recognized as a separate species in 2000. Greater sage-grouse are a widely distributed but sparsely populated in many areas they inhabit. They are most abundant in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado, with remnant populations in Washington, California, North Dakota, South Dakota in the United States, and Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada.