Rare bird gives up a little anonymity for state study
Climate change could eliminate spruce grouse's habitat nicheBy Jim Lee
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
RHINELANDER — Wisconsin's fourth native grouse species — if you count ruffed grouse, sharptail grouse and prairie chicken as the other three — continues a tenuous existence in the Badger State amid relative anonymity.
That might seem a bit incongruous for a species that has earned the moniker "fools hen" for its susceptibility to human predation.
However, it isn't hunting that restricts the spruce grouse population in this state, because the bird is a protected species. A lack of suitable habitat limits the bird's abundance.
"Few people have ever seen a spruce grouse," said Karl Martin, a research scientist for the state Department of Natural Resources at Rhinelander. "I'm a grouse hunter, and I had never seen one in Wisconsin until I began this study."
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