Tympanuchus pallidicinctus
Status: Hypothetical. Status unresolved.
The tangible history of this species in Nebraska is based on specimens from near Danbury in extreme southern Red Willow Co shot by hunters and provided to HMM by an H. Frates (Swenk MS, in Sharpe 1968). Sharpe (1968) examined some of the specimens and concluded they were undoubtedly Lesser Prairie-Chickens (hereafter LEPC). However, questions about the provenance of the Red Willow Co specimens as well as other issues related to habitat and range have been raised and so status of this species in Nebraska is unresolved. Here, we provide a detailed analysis of the evidence relating to occurrence of LEPC in Nebraska.
Taxonomy: No subspecies are recognized.
Specimens: There is documentation of the collection of seven Red Willow Co specimens, a male 17 Sep 1924 and four males and two females 7 Oct 1925, the latter comprising an entire flock of six (Swenk, handwritten note card; NOU Archives. Hereafter “note card”). Of these seven specimens, dispositions were as follows (Swenk note card). The male shot 17 Sep 1924 was sold to E. S. Hopkins of New Orleans “for the museum there” (Brooking letter to Swenk, 13 Dec 1930; NOU Archives). Of the six birds shot 7 Oct 1925, a male was traded to Swenk by Brooking and is now UNSM ZM14210 (Swenk, Notes After 1925), and a male was “disposed of” to C. A. Black of Kearney. Swenk (note card) lists measurements for the latter specimen: it was described as a “typical light-colored bird, Length 14.5, Wing (Right) 8.125, chord 199 mm, Wing (Left) 8.25, chord 200 mm, culmen 15, Depth at Base of Bill 9.25, Tarsus 42, and tail 96.5”. The date given, 2 Oct, appears to be a typo, and should be 7 Oct (Swenk note card).
The remaining four specimens, two males and two females, were “left in the Brooking Collection” at HMM; Swenk (note card) listed measurements of these four specimens, a female HMM 3330, and three specimens labeled HMM 3071, two males and a female. Currently, however (2018), there are six specimens at HMM, accessioned in 1931 (HMM Accession Records), none individually labeled; thus, it seems possible that at least two of the six specimens at HMM were from locations other than Red Willow Co, Nebraska. A possible source of the additional Brooking Collection specimens is mounts at the Plainsman Museum, Aurora, Nebraska from the William Townsley Collection (Brooking 1933). These are three unlabeled LEPC (174-104, -106, -107) with accession notes stating that the species was a “Native of Nebraska, non-migratory, found in the Sandhills country- sage and bluestem grasses.” One of these three, 174-104, was mounted in 1903, a date that might support occurrence of the species in Nebraska if the specimens had in fact been collected in Nebraska. Intriguingly, Swenk, in a letter to W. E. Clyde Todd of the Carnegie Museum, Philadelphia dated 28 Nov 1930 (NOU Archives), stated that he was aware of “only seven other specimens” in Nebraska, all mounted specimens. This total must have included mounts of birds collected elsewhere than Nebraska, possibly including Townsley mounts.
Wolcott (1909) stated LEPC had not been seen in Nebraska since the early 1870s. Wolcott’s statement may have been based on three specimens obtained at New York City’s Fulton Market by a G. N. Lawrence purportedly harvested in Nebraska and currently held at the USNM: a male taken 8 Feb 1878 (USNM 84554), and two females 26 Feb 1878 (USNM 84555, 74008). Correspondence to Swenk from Herbert Friedman at USNM indicates that Dr. Friedman examined the USNM specimens and confirmed their identity as “pallidicinctus” (LEPC). However, it has not been determined these specimens were in fact collected in Nebraska, although Robbins (2020) allowed that two similar specimens obtained at New York City’s Fulton Market by G. N. Lawrence in Jan 1877 were indeed collected near Pierce City, Missouri.
Sharpe (1968), in an attempt to explain the collection of the Nebraska specimens in a location outside the species’ known range, concluded “It is my contention, therefore, that the former presence of Lesser Prairie Chickens [sic] in Nebraska was the result of a short-lived post-settlement range extension, paralleling that which occurred with the Greater Prairie Chicken [sic]”. Sharpe, however, came to have doubts about his 1968 conclusion due to questions about provenance of the specimens (Sharpe et al 2001; Birds of Nebraska- Online: Introduction). According to a paper read to the Wilson Ornithological Society in 1931 by Swenk (included in full in Sharpe 1968), it was believed in Bruner’s time and later [circa 1900-1920] that “somewhere in the Nebraska sandhills there might still survive a few of the Lesser species, even though none had been reported by hunters for many years. Mr. A.M. Brooking of Hastings particularly interested himself in this quest. Finally, in the fall of 1924, he was rewarded by receiving two [sic] fine male specimens of the Lesser Prairie Chicken [sic] from Red Willow County, Nebraska…” Swenk went on to say that the following fall Brooking “enlisted the help of local hunters” and “secured” five additional specimens, presumably those discussed above. The involvement of hunters presumably compensated for providing this unique group of specimens, and the presence of certain other unique specimens obtained by Brooking and prepared by taxidermist Cyrus A. Black and held at HMM raises doubts that collectors obtained these specimens in Nebraska (Sharpe et al 2001). The presence of six unlabeled LEPC specimens at HMM when a maximum of four from Red Willow Co were there (see above) suggests acquisition by HMM of specimens from other locations. In defense of Brooking, we point out that at the time, it was not well known how far north or east the LEPC range extended.
It should be noted here that Sharpe (1968), in a search for examples of sympatry of the two prairie-chicken species stated that two specimens of LEPC had been collected in Decatur Co, Kansas, immediately south of Red Willow Co, Nebraska. These were a female taken in 1913 now in the Chicago Museum of Natural History, and a male taken in 1912 now in the Denver Museum of Natural History. Both are in fact Greater Prairie-Chickens (Ben Marks, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, personal communication; Garth Spellman, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, personal communication).
Historical anecdotal evidence for occurrence in Nebraska: As discussed above, the tangible history of this species in Nebraska is limited to the 1924-1925 specimens from Red Willow Co. There have been no reports of LEPC in that area in the intervening 100 years, and occurrence in Nebraska prior to that time is anecdotal. It is important to note that the two prairie-chicken species were not recognized as such until 1885, when Ridgway revised his 1873 assignment of LEPC as a subspecies of Greater Prairie-Chicken (Ridgway 1873) to recognize LEPC as a full species (Ridgway 1885) and so it is difficult to attach much significance to anecdotal reports of LEPC in Nebraska prior to 1885. Swenk (1915) had concluded that LEPC was “formerly common, now extinct in Nebraska”, a position he reiterated (in Sharpe 1968) in a 1931 presentation to the Wilson Ornithological Club that LEPC “… formerly summered in small numbers over much of the sandhills region of central Nebraska … and in winter moved southward to the Platte Valley and eastward to the more eastern counties of the state.” This despite Swenk’s own comments in the 1931 presentation, “… the writer has endeavored for years to secure some reliable data concerning the former status of the Lesser Prairie Chicken [sic] in the state, but with rather indifferent results.” It seems Swenk was not totally convinced, but nevertheless went on to cite several sight reports and reports of birds shot by hunters from Cherry Co east to Cuming Co, some referring to smaller, paler birds as “runts”, presumably by comparison to Greater Prairie-Chickens. As noted by Sharpe (1968), there is mensural overlap between Greater Prairie-Chicken and LEPC, which could explain the occurrence of “runt” Greater Prairie-Chickens. Of interest is a comment in Bent (1932) that this species had been reported from Nebraska, but that “in the lack of specimen evidence it is thought that the records refer to [Greater Prairie-Chicken]”. Bent may have been referring to reports such as those mentioned by Bruner et al (1904) of “a number” shot in Cuming and Washington Cos in the early 1870s and one seen by Bruner near West Point during the winter of 1871-72. There is a specimen labeled “Lesser Prairie Chicken” [sic] in the California Academy of Science Museum collected 15 Jan 1885 by a Frean Morcom in Holt Co, Nebraska.
Habitat considerations: Perhaps the most important factor in determining whether the range of LEPC formerly extended into southwestern Nebraska is habitat availability. According to Hagen and Giessen (2020), LEPC inhabits rangelands dominated primarily by shinnery oak (Quercus havardii) or sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia) within the southern Great Plains. Sharpe (1968) noted that the sand sage habitat is “distributed more to the north and is utilized by the Lesser Prairie Chicken [sic] in the Panhandle of Oklahoma, southwestern Kansas and southeastern Colorado”, and produced a map (Fig 2) showing sand sage prairie extending northeastward into southwestern Nebraska approximately from Chase and Dundy Cos into southwestern Lincoln Co. Red Willow Co is east and south of this range and has no sand sage prairie, as indicated by Kaul and Rolfsmeier (1983). Sharpe (1968) cited Sclater (1912), who reported the invasion of the Greater Prairie-Chicken into northeastern Colorado in counties where much of the habitat was sand sage prairie yet made no mention of the presence of LEPC in these areas. Presumably in an attempt to explain the putative occurrence of LEPC in Red Willow Co despite the lack of supporting evidence, Sharpe (1968) concluded: “It is my contention, therefore, that the former presence of Lesser Prairie Chickens [sic] in Nebraska was the result of a short-lived post-settlement range extension, paralleling that which occurred with the Greater Prairie Chicken [sic].” Sharpe was referring to the abundance of Greater Prairie-Chicken in mosaic habitats involving new cropland initiated by settlers within native prairies (Svedarsky et al 2000).
Evidence for expanded former range: Taylor and Guthery (1980) stated without supporting evidence “There may have been small populations in the sandy lands of northeastern Colorado and southwestern Nebraska” and Thompson and Ely (1989) stated that just prior to the dust bowl era of the 1930s this species was especially abundant, at least in Kansas. At one time the LEPC range was thought to have extended as far as southeast Kansas and southwestern Missouri; although reports from Missouri (AOU 1957) have been questioned (Robbins and Easterla 1992), more recently Robbins (2018) allowed that two specimens obtained at New York City’s Fulton Market by a G. N. Lawrence in Jan 1877 were indeed collected near Pierce City, Missouri.
Although none of the literature (Baker 1953, Jones 1963, Sutton 1967) documents range shifts or population expansion such as that suggested by Sharpe (1968) in LEPC analogous to those seen in Greater Prairie-Chicken, scattered extralimital records indicate some wandering in winter in search of a food supply, at least when population numbers were presumably much higher than now (Bailey 1928, Lloyd 1887).
A study using ecological niche modeling by DeYoung and Williford (2016) provides support for the idea that the former range was more extensive than it is now. Ecological niche modeling can illustrate the “probable magnitude of climate-induced range shifts” by combining data from collection locations of museum specimens with bioclimatic variable data related to vegetation and soil types that could then be projected to other Pleistocene time periods (DeYoung and Williford 2016). The niche modeling, when applied to “Current Range”, showed suitable LEPC habitat extending north to southern Nebraska, south of the Platte and North Platte river valleys and east to Lancaster Co, and including all of Kansas, eastward to extreme western Missouri.
Recently, there has been northward expansion of the current range in western Kansas aided by establishment of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands (Thompson et al 2011). As of 1992-97, the study period of the Kansas Breeding Bird Atlas (Busby and Zimmerman 2001), the northernmost report of LEPC was in extreme southeast Scott and extreme southwest Lane Cos. Since then, the north edge of the range has extended into Wallace, Logan, and Gove Cos, as well as extreme southern Sherman Co (J. Pitman, formerly Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Emporia, personal communication), approximately 112 km (70 miles) from the Nebraska border. This northward expansion has allowed this species and Greater Prairie-Chicken to come into contact and hybridize (Busby and Zimmerman 2001, Hagen and Giesen 2020), although the percentage of hybrids is stable despite some 20 years of range overlap at around 1-3% (J. Augustine, personal communication; J. Pitman, personal communication). It should be noted that range expansion in western Kansas may in actuality involve reoccupation of a former more extensive historic range extending into southwestern Nebraska (J. Augustine, personal communication).
Images
Acknowledgement
Photograph (top) by Ross Silcock of a Lesser Prairie-Chicken specimen (UNSM ZM14120) collected near Danbury, Red Willow Co 7 Oct 1925. The specimen is housed and maintained at the University of Nebraska State Museum and was legally salvaged or collected. We thank Thomas Labedz for facilitating the photographing of this specimen for the Birds of Nebraska – Online. Jeffrey J. Lusk provided numerous helpful comments that improved this species account.
Abbreviations
AOU: American Ornithologists’ Union
BONO: Birds of Nebraska- Online www.BirdsofNebraska.org
CRP: Conservation Reserve Program
HMM: Hastings Municipal Museum, Hastings, Nebraska
MS: Manuscript
NOU: Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union
UNSM: University of Nebraska State Museum
USNM: United States National Museum, Washington, D.C.
Literature Cited
American Ornithologists’ Union [AOU]. 1957. The AOU Check-list of North American birds, 5th ed. Port City Press, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Bailey, F.M. 1928. Birds of New Mexico. New Mexico Dept, of Game and Fish, Santa Fe.
Baker, M.F. 1953. Prairie Chickens in Kansas. Publications of the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History and State Biological Survey, Wichita, Kansas, USA.
Bent, A.C. 1932. Life histories of North American gallinaceous birds. Bulletin of the United State National Museum 162. Dover Publications Reprint 1963, New York, New York, USA.
Brooking, A.M. 1933. An early Nebraska bird collection. NBR 1: 133-134.
Bruner, L., R.H. Wolcott, and M.H. Swenk. 1904. A preliminary review of the birds of Nebraska, with synopses. Klopp and Bartlett, Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
Busby, W.H., and J.L. Zimmerman. 2001. Kansas Breeding Bird Atlas. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
DeYoung, R.W., and D.L. Williford. 2016. Genetic variation and population structure in the Prairie-Grouse. Implications for the conservation of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken. Pp. 77-97 in D.A. Haukos and C.W. Boal (editors), Ecology and Conservation of Lesser Prairie-Chickens. Studies in Avian Biology (No. 48). CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
Hagen, C.A. and K.M. Giesen. 2020. Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.lepchi.01.
Jones, R. 1963. Identification and analysis of Lesser and Greater Prairie-Chicken habitat. Journal of Wildlife Management 27: 757-778.
Kaul, R.B., and S.B. Rolfsmeier. 1983. Native vegetation of Nebraska (map). Conservation and Survey Division, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Lloyd, W. 1887. Birds of Tom Green and Concho Counties, Texas. Auk, 4: 187.
Reese, G.C., Manier, D.J., Carr, N.B., Callan, Ramana, Leinwand, I.I.F., Assal, T.J., Burris, Lucy, and Ignizio, D.A., 2016, Estimated historical distribution of grassland communities of the Southern Great Plains: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2016–1184, 13 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20161184.
Ridgway, R. 1873. A new variety of prairie chicken. Bulletin of Essex Institute 5:199.
Ridgway, R. 1885. Some emended names of North American birds. Proceedings of US National Museum 8: 354.
Robbins, M.B. 2020. The status and distribution of birds in Missouri. 2nd Edition. University of
Kansas Biodiversity Institute, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Robbins, M.B., and D.A. Easterla. 1992. Birds of Missouri, their distribution and abundance.
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri, USA.
Sclater, V.L. 1912. A History of the Birds of Colorado. Witherby, London.
Sharpe, R.S. 1968. The evolutionary relationships and comparative behavior of prairie chickens. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA.
Sharpe, R.S., W.R. Silcock, and J.G. Jorgensen. 2001. The Birds of Nebraska, their Distribution and Temporal Occurrence. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Sutton, G.M. 1967. Oklahoma birds. University of Oklahoma Press., Norman, Oklahoma, USA.
Svedarsky, W.D., R.L. Westemeier, R.J. Robel, S. Gough, and J.E. Toepher. 2000. Status and management of the greater prairie‐chicken Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus in North America. Wildlife Biology 6: 277-284. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/wlb.2000.027.
Swenk, M.H. 1915. The birds and mammals of Nebraska. Nebraska Blue Book. State of Nebraska.
Swenk, M.H. Notes after 1925. Critical notes on specimens in Brooking, Black, and Olson collections made subsequent to January 1, 1925. Handwritten manuscript in the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Archives, University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Taylor, M.A., and F.S. Guthery. 1980. Status, Ecology, and Management of the Lesser Prairie Chicken. General Technical Report RM-77. Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture.
Thompson, M.C., and C.A. Ely. 1989. Birds in Kansas. Vol. 1. University of Kansas Museum Natural History Publications Educational Series No. 11, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Thompson, M.C., C.A. Ely, B. Gress, C. Otte, S.T. Patti, D. Seibel, and E.A. Young. 2011. Birds of Kansas. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Wolcott, R.H. 1909. An analysis of Nebraska’s bird fauna. Proceedings of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union 4: 25-55.
Recommended Citation
Silcock, W.R., and J.G. Jorgensen. 2023. Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus). In Birds of Nebraska — Online. www.BirdsofNebraska.org
Birds of Nebraska – Online
Updated 25 Aug 2023