The Wisconsin School of the Air presents Robert S.
Ellerson, University of Wisconsin
Extension Specialist and Wildlife Management in the
wonderful world of nature.
This is the last series of programs designed for in-school
viewing by children and grades 5 through 9.
It's been televised each Monday afternoon at 2
o'clock by the University of Wisconsin Television Station.
Now Robert Ellerson and the wonderful world of nature.
This boys and girls is one of our native Wisconsin citizens.
This bird is the purée chicken.
If we were to go up into central Wisconsin in the spring of the
year and get out in an open field and a cold frosty morning,
we could see a site like this.
[Music]
Hi boys and girls.
What you have seen is a site that's probably
as old as mankind.
It's a site that the Indians in Wisconsin
saw long before any white man came to the United States.
For what you have seen was the courtship display of the
pinnated grouse or purée chicken.
Now here in Wisconsin we have four kinds of grouse.
Grouse are chicken-like birds.
And here in Wisconsin the four kinds of grouse we have can
be divided into two.
The first two birds are the forests
land. They are the rough grouse and the spruce grouse.
The other two birds live in a somewhat different kind of
habitat. They are sometimes referred to as prairie grouse.
These birds are the sharp-tailed grouse and the pinnated
grouse or purée chicken.
Now the type of habitat that these birds live in is very
interesting. If we will go over to the blackboard here
we can take a look at the habitat of the sharp-tailed
and the pinnated grouse.
This diagram that we have on the board shows a grassland
which merges gradually into a brushy type of cover and
eventually into small trees.
Now this habitat is divided by between these two birds.
The pinnated grouse inhabits the grasslands.
The pinnated grouse is the prairie chicken.
And this is the bird.
Now moving over starting at the
edge of the grassland and moving into the brushland and
forestland we find the home of the sharp-tailed grouse.
And this is a sharp-tailed grouse.
Now actually these two birds are quite
similar in appearance.
However there are certain differences which enable us to
separate one from the other.
Coming back to the purée chicken or pinnated grouse
in the male birds we find these long tufts of feathers
on the bird's neck or these are called pinnated grouse.
Another name for the pinnated grouse, a common name is a
square tail and you notice that the bird's tail is
rather blunt and square.
Still another name for the prairie chicken is yellow
leg. And if you could see the color of this bird's feet
you would see that it was rather a bright yellow color.
Now what about the sharp-tailed grouse?
The sharp-tailed grouse looks as I said rather
similar to a prairie chicken.
The sharp-tailed grouse as its name implies has a sharp
tail. Notice how the tail comes down to a sharp point.
And another distinguishing character
of the sharp-tailed grouse is the rather diamond-shaped
feathers on the bird's breast.
Contrasted with the transverse barring on the breast of the
prairie chicken.
Here you see the two birds together.
Notice the barring on the breast of the prairie chicken
and the diamond-shaped feathers on the breast of
the sharp-tailed grouse.
You can compare also their tails and see why one is
called a square tail and the other a sharp tail.
In other respects the birds are quite similar except
that they do live in somewhat different habitats.
Now in our programs over the past weeks we have been
talking about the importance of habitat to wildlife.
And today I would like to talk particularly about the
habitat of the prairie chicken or pinnated grouse.
I like to talk about the habitat of
this bird because no animals habitat has the effect of man's
activities been so pronounced.
Man's activities in farming and in forestry have had
very profound effects on the prairie chickens of Wisconsin.
But before we go into that possibly we had better take a
look at some of the things that make up prairie chicken habitat.
And first of all I'd like to take a look at some
typical prairie chicken habitat in Wisconsin.
One of the things that prairie chicken demand and this is
rather an intangible thing is a wide open horizon.
You notice in this view of prairie chicken habitat
that there is very little obstruction to your view.
You can see clear out to the horizon with
very few trees in sight.
This is a picture of prairie chicken habitat in
some of the best chicken habitat in our state.
Now another thing that prairie chickens demand
and must have as we have indicated in the diagram of
their habitat is grassland.
Grassland is of the utmost importance as far as prairie
chickens are concerned.
And in fact they do not do well unless at least 50%
of the area in which they are living is in grassland.
And when we speak about grassland we don't necessarily
mean hay fields of alfalfa or clover because these do
not do for prairie chickens.
Prairie chickens are very exacting and demand more or
less permanent grasslands.
They need these grasslands for a number of things.
For one thing they need them for their booming grounds.
And here you can see a number of prairie chickens on the
booming ground and they require these in the spring of the
year during the mating season.
Prairie chickens also need grassland for brewed
rearing and for nesting.
And these grasslands must be permanent grasslands.
They cannot be lands that are plowed periodically.
Prairie chickens are most exacting in their
habitat requirements.
Now still another thing that prairie chickens in
Wisconsin need and must have is a source of winter food.
This is very important because in the winter time much of
the prairie chicken range is buried under deep snow.
In this scene we can see a number of prairie chickens
feeding in a corn field.
Notice here that in the background there are
some shocks of corn.
And this shock corn furnishes a food supply for these
birds in the winter time when they are in need of it.
Now I'd like to summarize these habitat requirements
of prairie chickens for you.
The prairie chickens require 50% or more of
grassland in their habitat.
25% more or less of cultivated land to furnish them food
and a variety of food both in summer and winter.
And 25% more or less of bush land and forest.
The moment we get more than 25% bush land and forest
the habitat is not quite so suitable for prairie chickens.
Now I think it would be interesting if we went back
and took a look at the history of prairie chickens
in the state of Wisconsin.
I'd like to have you come back with me to about 1880.
And in 1880 this was roughly the range of the prairie
chicken in Wisconsin.
You notice that the chicken is confined to the southern and
southwestern part of Wisconsin.
The dark area on the map is the prairie chicken range.
At this time back in 1800 this was the area of Wisconsin
where the native prairie or grasslands were found.
And the prairie chickens were confined to this area.
From about 1875 up until about 1920 this was the
picture as far as the prairie chickens were concerned.
There was a very rapid and massive expansion of the
birds' range throughout the state of Wisconsin.
During this period there were prairie chickens to
be found in every single county of Wisconsin.
This period coincided with the period when the
forests of Wisconsin were being cut off in the north.
And as some of you probably know, this forest land
was burned over after the trees were cut and so that
it was left very bare.
Much of the forest land then developed into a grassland
providing a suitable habitat for prairie chickens.
So the prairie chickens moved up into northern Wisconsin.
At the same time their range was more or less shrinking
in southern Wisconsin because these prairie lands
were very good at the time.
We're very good agricultural lands and more or more of them
were coming under cultivation and so were becoming less
suitable for prairie chickens.
From about 1920 until 1940 this was the picture as far as
prairie chickens were concerned.
There was a considerable contraction of the
range of these birds.
They pulled back and the range began to become fragmented.
Notice that there is very little range in southern
Wisconsin at this time and the range in northern
Wisconsin is quite spotty.
This coincided with the development or the regrowth
of the forests in northern Wisconsin and also with
the continued cultivation of the prairie land
in southern Wisconsin.
Notice that in central Wisconsin there is still
rather a large block of prairie chicken country.
From about 1940 up until the present this is the picture.
The prairie chicken range has shrunken very very considerably.
You notice that the main stronghold of prairie chickens
in Wisconsin today is in the central part of the state.
Now interesting enough this area in central Wisconsin
was never grassland at all but was originally a large
tamarack swamp or marsh.
And the trees in this marsh were cut off and drainage
ditches were dug in the marsh and the land was drained so
that today this land looks much as you see it in this photo.
Here you can see the wide open expanse of this country.
Mind you now this used to be a
tamarack swamp and today it is a grassland and is farmed.
This area is really the last stronghold of the prairie
chickens in Wisconsin.
The area is located in Portage County and partly in
northern Adams County.
These marshes are called the Leola
and the Buonavista marshes.
Actually it is some of the best prairie chicken habitat
remaining in the United States but it is small.
Now what makes it such good chicken habitat?
Well one of the interesting agricultural developments
in this part of the state is the development of a
bluegrass seed in the street.
Farmers and seed companies maintain large areas of
this marsh in bluegrass and they harvest the seed of
this grass for lawn seed.
And of course this permanent bluegrass seed is the thing
that makes this area so suitable for prairie chickens.
But we cannot be sure that this area will always maintain
this type of an agriculture and the conservation
department and the people of Wisconsin are very concerned
about prairie chickens.
And the biologists of the conservation department
have developed a prairie chicken management plan for
this Buonavista marsh area.
In this plan they have are leasing a small tracts of lands
scattered around throughout the marsh and maintaining them as
permanent grasslands where these prairie chickens can build
their nests and rear their young and have their booming grounds.
In addition to these small holdings of grasslands that
the conservation department is acquiring and maintaining,
the conservation department also plants and leases food
patches scattered around the area where the birds may obtain
food throughout the winter.
And we certainly all hope that they are successful in
maintaining the population of this very, very fine
game bird here in Wisconsin, the pinnated grass.
And now before I close, I'd like to have you boys and girls have
another look at the courtship displays of these two prairie
grass of ours, the sharp tailed grass and the pinnated
grass or prairie chicken.
The sharp tailed grass which you will see first is a bird which
gathers in the spring of the year, the mails alone gather on
these booming grounds or in the case of sharp tails, they are
called these display grounds.
And they go through a display every morning during the spring
of the year, along in April is the best time to see them.
The sharp tail sail around like little ships where there's
tails stuck straight up in the air and their feet beating
a rapid tattoo on the ground.
You'll be able to hear their feet and it sounds
almost like a drum roll.
Then later on we will see these pinnated grass and if
you will take a look at this pinnated grass, like to point
out a few things about what these birds do when they go
through this courtship display.
These pinnated grass are erected and stick straight forward and
beneath these pinnated grass are some bare areas of skin which
are a bright orange and color.
And the bird inflates these sacs on the side of its neck and
bends down with its tail erect and its wings down and he mits a
kind of a hollow booming sound which you will hear on the film.
So now let's take a look at the courtship display
of the sharp tailed grass and the furry chicken.
[Music]
This man is a biologist working for the conservation
department. Part of his job is studying these furry chickens
on their booming ground.
[Music]
And so boys and girls, I hope that all of you sometime
in the future will have the opportunity to see these
wonderful birds going through these most interesting
displays in the spring of the year on their booming
grounds. Until then, so long.
[Music]