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Sage-grouse to get GPS packs

Biologists suiting up selected birds to track behavior and locations
This sage-grouse is fitted with the latest GPS-tracking technology. Its location is uploaded to a satellite four times every 24 hours.

A select group of the Gunnison sage-grouse are going backpacking.

The chicken-size bird, famous for a bizarre mating display by males in the spring, is struggling to hang on in Southwest Colorado and southeast Utah. It recently was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

To keep tabs on their whereabouts, wildlife biologists are fitting birds with GPS backpacks as part of a pilot program with the Bureau of Land Management and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Four GPS backpacks were purchased for $4,000 apiece through a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. A male and a female have been fitted with backpacks in Dry Creek Basin in San Miguel County, said Nathaniel West, a wildlife biologist with the BLM’s Tres Rios office.

Unofficial estimates of that population is around 50 birds, 29 of which were relocated from the more stable Gunnison Basin population. The plan is to deploy two more in the Monticello-Dove Creek area.

“It has been extremely difficult to find birds in the Dove Creek area because the population is so small, so we have not been successful there,” West said.

The location of the two birds with GPS backpacks are uploaded to a satellite four times in a 24-hour period. The data then is downloaded onto a website for study.

“It is real-time data, with locations within 1,000 meters. We can see where they are during lekking time, and where they are roosting at night,” West said.

The tracking devices also allow researchers to see whether the birds are using specific range habitat that has been improved for them. But the limited scope of the pilot study means it won’t reveal comprehensive data on the isolated populations.

“To get more detail, we will need more backpacks,” West said. “Then we can get a better view of which habitat is being used, and which is being avoided.”

There are an estimated 5,000 Gunnison sage-grouse remaining in 7 percent of their historic range. Wildlife officials reported that $30 million has been spent protecting the sage-grouse in the last 20 years.



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