One of our staff saw nine prairie chickens approx. 3 miles west of Canby on October 30. We have not released birds this far south, but we believe one of our relocated prairie chickens was displaying at a sharp-tail dancing ground near Clear Lake, SD (about 10-15 miles west of this sighting) in spring 2004. We will be searching the Canby area thoroughly this spring for a booming ground!
FYI - 2006 was our last year of prairie chicken relocations; we have released 570 birds in West-central Minnesota since 1999. We will continue to monitor the reintroduced population using radio telemetry and booming ground censuses. We would certainly appreciate hearing about any prairie grouse (chicken or sharp-tail) observations in west-central Minnesota. Please contact myself or Dave Trauba ([email protected] or 320-734-4451). Sara Vacek Wildlife Biologist USFWS -- Morris Wetland Management District 43875 230th St. Morris, MN 56267 320-589-4973 __________________ In the past couple months I've heard from three individuals regarding Sharp-tailed Grouse sightings in Southwest Minnesota. Two reports come from the Canby area (Yellow Medicine County) and another North of Belview (Renville County) area near the Minnesota River valley. All were from hunters, one of whom had a bird in the hand. All were certain they were not pheasants, and seemed to have the knowledge to know the difference. I am aware of the Greater Prairie-Chicken releases in the Lac qui Parle area, but these individuals I spoke with were not. They also did not seem to know the differences between Sharp-tailed and Prarire-Chicken. Just throwing this info out to those who might venture this way. _______________________________________________ mou-net mailing list [email protected] http://cbs.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mou-net
