PIERRE, S.D. (KELO.com) — Despite abundant grass cover, sharp-tailed grouse and greater prairie-chickens had only moderate nesting success this year on the Fort Pierre National Grassland in central South Dakota.
District Ranger for the Fort Pierre Ranger District Dan Svingen says wings collected during the first three weeks of the hunting season showed an overall juvenile: Adult ratio of 1.6 to 1, lower than the 2.2 to 1 in 2018. He says the average juvenile: Adult ratio between 1992 and 2019 was 2.0 juvenile birds harvested for each adult bird harvested. Greater prairie-chickens accounted for 81% of the birds shot in 2019, compared to 70% in 2018 and a long-term (1992-2019) average of 68%.
The juvenile: adult ratio analysis provides biologists with an important index for judging the success of the recently completed nesting season. This year had a sample of 635 wings, compared to last year’s sample of 650 wings and a long-term average of 598 wings.
Svingen says it was a challenging year for bird production. Heavy snows from blizzards in late March and early April lingered well into late spring and were followed by unusually wet, cold conditions. He says they didn’t see extensive green-up until mid-May, and only started noting abundant grasshoppers– an important food item for growing chicks– in late summer.
Svingen says the peak of hatching was unusually late, which is often associated with lower bird production. He says the good news is the grass growth this summer was phenomenal, hopefully setting us up well for next year’s nesting.
(Jody Heemstra, DRG News, contributed this report.)
