Empty nests

Empty nests

Jul 16, 2024

As soon as all the eggs in a greater sage-grouse nest have hatched, the hen and surviving chicks leave the spot behind, in search of food and water.

Courtesy of Tyler Dungannon/Oregon Hunters Association & Dr. Christian Hagen/Oregon State University

Broods spend the long summer days walking about, then bed down each night where they find themselves when sunlight wanes. They no longer use a nest, but the hen continues to shelter young as they rest until first light.

Courtesy of Tyler Dungannon/Oregon Hunters Association & Dr. Christian Hagen/Oregon State University

By fall, the chicks will generally reach full height, though first-year males will still be somewhat smaller than their elders as they arrive at their first lek in the spring.

If the sagebrush canopy is not thick enough, a brood is at higher risk of being spotted from above or sniffed out at ground level by predators that are among the more than 350 other species native to sagebrush habitats: eagles, ravens and hawks aloft, coyotes and badgers, skunks and foxes at ground level.

Growing chicks continue to need adequate native vegetation for cover and forage. | USFWS/Tom Koerner

Chicks and adults eat the summer leaves and flowers of sagebrush, grasses and native flowering plants, called forbs. Insects and spiders living on the plants or the ground supplement the grouses' diet.

The Western harvester ants that built this hill are among the insects sage-grouse will eat in summer
months. | Both images: USFWS/Tom Koerner

Healthy habitats sustain enough chicks through maturity and allow population numbers to stabilize. Biologists estimate that an average of 2.25 hatchlings per-hen need to survive their first year of life to keep a local population viable.

The BLM's plans for protecting the sagebrush habitat that greater sage-grouse and more than 350 other species of animals, insects and plants depend on involve sustainably managing activities that spread invasive plants, increase wildlfire or otherwise disturb the surface of designated habitat areas.

► Read about our options for conserving sagebrush lands to benefit wildlife and Western economies.

IN SEASON |Breeding :: Nesting :: Wintering :: A hen's life

Heather Feeney, Public Affairs Specialist