There are now 500 to 600 sage grouse left in Saskatchewan. The sage grouse has become endangered in Saskatchewan for many reasons. First, people plow up sage brush to plant grass or field crops. Habitat loss is the greatest danger facing the greater sage grouse in Saskatchewan. Second, hawks, golden eagles, and coyotes all hunt them. Big power poles that carry electricity over long distances are sometimes built in their habitat. Eagles and hawks sit on these poles and are able to spot the grouse easily. Then, the predators fly down and catch the sage grouse in their leks or nesting areas. Third, sage grouse are disturbed too often by people such as tourists getting too close to their leks. Then the birds won’t mate. Noises from human activity like the oil and gas business and farm and ranch traffic also disturb them. Fourth, harsh weather can freeze the birds or bury sage brush in snow and without sage brush food, the grouse starve. Finally, they are getting run over as roads to natural gas and oil wells are built near their nesting and strutting grounds.

This is a photo of a sage grouse.

This is our drawing of a sage grouse.