Sharptails and Prairie Chkckens?
 

OK... I'm a bit confused here.

I was reading another different, almost as good as AO;) magazine, and They had a picture of Prairie Chickens.

I remember being taught as a kid that they were extinct.

Are they?

Is this another name for sharpies?

They sure look like greater Prairie Chickens.

Can anyone help?

bd

Speaking of big birds..... I tried to hunt Sage grouse way back when they were legal (it turned out to be the last year of that hunt). Anyone know what the population levels are currently like and if a hunt will ever be allowed again??

I'm interested in any comments as well. I thought that there was a lesser and a greater prairie chicken, our sharpy being the lesser. But lately I'm under the impression that our sharpy is a grouse, and only a relative to the chickens.

You are correct no more Prairie Chickens exist in Alberta, Sask still has a few and the Sharptail is a grouse not a Prairie Chicken....:) The greater Prairie Chicken from what I remember seeing is a much larger bird than the Sharptail Grouse....

Is the extinct "praire chicken" a pinnated grouse?

The Sharptail is not a lesser Prairie Chicken. The Greater and Lesser Prairie Chicken are two distinct species and the Sharptail Grouse is a third. The Sharptail is the only one of the three which is still found in Alberta. Pinnated grouse is an encompassing term for the Prairie Chickens, of which there are three species. The two already named and the At t w a t ers, which is the rarest form.

I pm,d Rob or TJ a while back to write a article on prairie chickens but still havnt seen a article on them.Thought it would be a interesting topic as most of us on here dont even know what a prairie chicken looks like.

I believe there is still a small population of prairie chickens in the south east corner of the province.

Few Sage Grouse left in Alberta
 

Bessiedog

See article in latest Alberta Outdoorsmen Sept 09 issue by Neil Waugh (p.26) relating to the demise of this great bird. They are nearly gone from Alberta, with no good news in site. Shameful.

ticdoc

that is right ... the pinnated grouse was what was called the praire chicken ,but they are classified as extincted in alberta ,the term praire chicken is mostly used by people to refer to sharpies but people call any grouse the see a chicken

this comes right out of the hunters education text book under bird identification "sharp tail grouse"

wasn't the pinnated grouse native to alberta too? i think i heard some where the other grouse were all introduced into alberta.

The pinnated is/was native. The Hungarian (grey) partridge and Ring Necked Pheasant are the only introduced game birds in AB.

Prairie Chicken
 

I used to hunt prairie chicken on our farm in Manitoba. Some people called them sharpies although the chickens I hunted did not have the yellow markings on their neck. Not sure if there are different species of sharptail although all of the old timers called them prairie chickens. Lots of fun to hunt....super fast and good to eat too.

Many people incorrectly refer to sharptails as "prairie chickens",because they don't know the difference.