Endangered sage grouse could soon vanish from Canada

In the Prairies we have a bird that’s famous for its unusual mating dance but it’s a dance we might not see much longer in western Canada each spring the greater Sage gross makes quite the spectacle males flock to traditional mating grounds known as Lex they puff up their chests and swish their wings all in an attempt to woo a mate and then it’s a matter of L’s Choice the other thing these birds

Are known for is just how few of them are left the species has been endangered for decades and the latest numbers don’t provide a lot of Hope about their future in Canada’s West conservationists say it may be too late to bring back existing populations from the brink they are

Going to go extinct it’s almost certain we can’t sustain a population that small um especially given given climate change effects that are are causing more frequent droughts and everybody knows we’re headed for a drought this year we’ll probably lose them this here Sage grow used to number in the thousands but

There’re now fewer than 100 Birds believed to remain in the west and the range and the grasslands continues to shrink Alberta’s latest census found only 45 remain in the province the decline of sage grow has been blamed on habitat loss and conservationists are trying to restore that critical habitat

And preserve those few stretches of grassland that remain untouched there’s a lot of things going on there’s a lot of people working in that dire ction um could we lose Sage grow still that’s a that’s a real possibility should we throw up our hands and quit trying because that’s a

Possibility I don’t think so conservationists are hopeful that existing populations can hold on long enough to benefit from those restoration efforts and in an attempt to bolster existing numbers some hens captured from Montana will be released onto the Prairie this spring so when Sage grow return to their traditional mating

Grounds this spring scientists will be watching closely and hoping these birds will keep dancing in Canada a little longer Wallace Snowden CBC News edmon

An iconic bird known for its unique mating ritual is at risk of disappearing from Western Canada. Once numbering in the thousands, fewer than 100 of the round-bodied sage grouse remain in Alberta and Saskatchewan as their habitat shrinks.

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