Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis)

County List:

Rule:

Forested or Mixed Forested/Nonforested Landscapes

1st alternative:
      (Spruce/Fir (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven)) 
      or (Jack Pine (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven)) 
      or (Tamarack (Uneven)) 
      or (Black Spruce (Uneven)) 
      or Treed Bog
   containing:
      Dead Down Woody Debris
      and Stand/Gap Openings

2nd alternative:
      (Spruce/Fir (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven)) 
      or (Jack Pine (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven)) 
      or (Tamarack (Uneven)) 
      or (Black Spruce (Uneven)) 
      or Treed Bog
   containing:
      Dead Down Woody Debris
   adjacent to:
      Bog

Habitat List:

view size class definitions

Literature:

Habitat: The Spruce Grouse occupies areas dominated by short-needled conifers, namely jack pine, black and white spruce, and tamarack. It may also occurring old spruce growth mixed with other conifers and aspens and in spruce bogs interspersed with pine-covered ridges. Ideal habitat in Michigan, however, appears to be those places where jack pines and black spruces mix and where there are scattered small openings with blueberries, trailing arbutus, and decaying logs and stumps.

Nests are located on the ground, frequently near the base of a tree or under the tips of low spruce branches.

The most serious threat to Spruce Grouse in Michigan is probably habitat destruction. Clearcutting large tracts of jack pines and spruces may deprive these birds of food and cover, especially if there is little remaining habitat nearby to serve as refuge. Since these birds do not disperse long distances, especially through unfavorable habitat, recolonization of isolated tracts is unlikely. The replacement of jack pines and spruces by plantations of red pines is also unfavorable. Recreational development in spruce-jack pine areas along lake shores not only reduces food and cover, but also brings increased disturbance by dogs, cats, and humans.

To assure the survival of this bird in the Lower Peninsula, it may be necessary to take positive management steps. These might involve designating certain tracts as Spruce Grouse Management Zones where Ruffed Grouse hunting would be restricted and vegetation would be manipulated to encourage growth of several age classes of jack pines and spruces, with numerous small openings. The current practice of controlled burning of mature jack-pine stands for Kirtland's Warbler habitat has the potential to benefit Spruce Grouse. Burns would be most effective if done in small areas (less than 16 ha) and in locations near spruce bogs.

Habitat: Breeding: Wooded tamarack swamps, cedar bogs and muskegs, lowlands bordering sluggish streams in coniferous forests. Rarely uses open meadows or clearings. Wintering: Same as breeding habitat, but birds seek denser areas of forests in extreme cold.

Special Habitat Requirements: Dense conifers for food and shelter.

Habitat: Conifer forests, pines, muskeg. Almost always in conifer forests but not necessarily in spruce. Prime habitat includes burned areas grown up to dense stands of jack pine or lodgepole pine, also forests of spruce, subalpine fir, hemlock, with dense undergrowth. Also on blueberry barrens. During dispersal in fall sometimes found in deciduous woods.

Diet: Mostly conifer needles. Adults are mostly vegetarian, feeding heavily on needles of pines, spruce, other conifers. Diet may be almost entirely conifer needles in winter. At other times also eats fresh green shoots and leaves of other plants, berries, flowers, insects, snails, and fungi. Very young birds may eat more insects.

Nest: site is on ground under dense cover. Nest is shallow depression, lined with a few needles and leaves.

Migration: Most individuals are permanent residents, but some move short distances (less than 10 miles) between summer and winter territories. This migration is accomplished on foot.