Tympanuchus pallidicinctus
| Kingdom |
Phylum |
Class |
Order |
Family |
| ANIMALIA |
CHORDATA |
AVES |
GALLIFORMES |
PHASIANIDAE |
| Scientific Name: |
Tympanuchus pallidicinctus |
| Species Authority: |
(Ridgway, 1873) |
Common Name/s:
| English |
– |
Lesser Prairie-chicken, Lesser Prairie Chicken, Lesser Prairie-Chicken |
| Spanish |
– |
Gallo de las Praderas Chico |
|
Assessment Information
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| Red List Category & Criteria: |
Vulnerable
A2bcd+3bcd+4bcd
ver 3.1
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| Year Published: |
2008 |
| Assessor/s: |
BirdLife International |
| Reviewer/s: |
Bird, J. & Butchart, S. |
| Contributor/s: |
Applegate, R., Beauprez, G., Davis, D., Hagen, C., Odell, E., Rodgers, R., Schoeling, D. & Whitlaw, H. |
Justification:
This species qualifies as Vulnerable owing to a long-term and rapid population decline. Although most populations appear to have stabilized or increased since 1995, populations in north-east Texas and parts of Oklahoma have declined precipitously since 2005, and in south-east New Mexico since 2001. As the effects of drought and the increasing demand for both fossil fuel and renewable energy development (including wind and biofuels) continue to place remaining habitats at risk, the species is precautionarily retained as Vulnerable until positive trends have been sustained.
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| History: |
| 2004 |
– |
Vulnerable
|
| 2000 |
– |
Vulnerable
|
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Geographic Range
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| Range Description: |
Tympanuchus pallidicinctus occurs in west-central and south-west Kansas, south-east Colorado, the Oklahoma panhandle, southwest Texas panhandle (Permian Basin) and eastern New Mexico, USA, and historically perhaps southern Nebraska4. The current occupied range is a fragmented 64,000 km2, only c.14% of the original1,4. Recent population estimates are 20,000-40,000 in 2007, most occurring in Kansas1,4.
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| Countries: |
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| Range Map: |
Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
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Population
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| Population: |
H. Whitlaw in litt. (2007).
|
| Population Trend: |
Decreasing
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Habitat and Ecology
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| Habitat and Ecology: |
It originally inhabited mid-grass prairie with or without interspersed shinnery oak Quercus havardii or sand sagebrush Artemisia filifolia2,4. It is now most common in dwarf shrub-mixed grass vegetation, sometimes interspersed with short-grass and, optimally with some portion (<25%) of the landscape in row grains as supplemental winter forage. Leks are usually on elevated areas with short vegetation3,4. Breeding occurs from mid-March to late May4. Food comprises foliage, seeds, grain, insects in the warmer months and acorns in the south3,4. Birds flock in late autumn and early winter, and feed in croplands4.
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| Systems: |
Terrestrial |
| Major Threat(s): |
Croplands have expanded since the late 19th century and complete conversion is now the principal threat2,4; areas with more than 37% cultivated land are probably unsustainable2. Intensive grazing reduces food and cover, and herbicides reduce shrub cover and acorn production3,4. Market hunting greatly reduced populations in the early 20th century4. Numbers declined more severely in the dust bowl of the late 1930s4, and significantly with droughts in the 1950s and early 1990s4. Today, recreational hunting is limited to Kansas and Texas and the conservative seasons produce an annual harvest of fewer than 1,000 birds4. In Oklahoma 39.5% of the prairie-chicken mortality recorded was due to fence collisions, while in New Mexico, this figure was 26.5 percent. The addition of tall structures (natural and manmade) to the prairie can reduce reproductive success5.
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Conservation Actions
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| Conservation Actions: |
Conservation Actions Underway
It is legally protected in all range states, and is being considered for listing under the Federal Endangered Species Act4. Numbers of leks and attending males are monitored3. Reintroduction programs have failed in Texas and Colorado3,4, primarily because of habitat shortages3. Some grazing regimes have been successfully manipulated, and croplands have reverted to roughly 2 million acres of grassland under Conservation Reserve Program and other private lands management schemes which has benefited several populations2,3. Large areas of land habitat have been purchased by states and the Nature Conservancy and Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances are being implemented in Texas. Research has been conducted on its ecology and conservation which will facilitate the production of recovery plans. Miles of unneeded fences have been removed in parts of Oklahoma and Texas and a method has been developed to mark remaining fences to reduce mortality1.
Conservation Actions Proposed
Allow habitat regeneration, manage grazing to provide adequate cover and forage for prairie chickens. Continue to manage occupied habitats on private lands, and hasten progress towards effective management on public lands. Protect occupied habitats. Develop and promote effective incentives for land-owners to maintain populations. Continue monitoring leks and develop statistically robust methods of estimating populations from lek data. Regulate the construction of tall structures in or near lesser prairie-chicken habitats.
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