Identification
“The Heath Cock or cock of the Plains is found in the Plains of the Columbia and are in great abundance from the enterance of Lewis’s river to the mountains which pass the Columbia between the Great falls and Rapids of that river." Meriwether Lewis
Did You Know?
The Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805 provided the first written account of sage grouse. Meriwether Lewis spotted his first grouse on the mouth of the Marias River on June 6, 1805.
All in a Name
Sage grouse are technically divided into two separate species: Gunnison sage-grouse and Greater sage-grouse. However, the popular term for both is simply sage grouse. You might hear nicknames like these too: sagehen (mascot of Pomona College and Pitzer College in California), sage cock, or sage chicken. While Lewis and Clark named the bird for science, their own nicknames failed to stick – cock of the plains or heath cock.
Size and Overall Look
The largest of all grouse in North America, males are nearly twice the size and weight of females. Males are 65 to 75 cm long ( 25-30 inches) and weigh 1.7 to 2.9 kg (4 to 6 lbs). Both sexes have small heads and long tails with black bellies and clean white underwings, easily spotted in flight.
Male sagegrouse: Note the white breast above the black belly, and the black throat.
The female camouflages well into the landscape with her gray and speckled feathers. Note, she lacks the white breast and black throat of the male, and is noticeably smaller.
