The Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are an iconic species due to their charismatic breeding behaviour and a cultural symbol of healthy rangelands in native prairie ecosystems across Western Canada and USA. Furthermore, they are often considered an umbrella species, whose protection and conservation will indirectly benefit many other species that utilize the same ecological community.

In Canada, the species experienced a dramatic decline over the past 40 years, and today is only found in two small populations: one in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan, within Grasslands National Park. The species is listed as Endangered under the Species at Risk Act and identified as a Priority Species under the Pan Canadian Approach to Transforming Species at Risk Conservation in Canada.

Greater sage-grouse use a mating system based on “leks”, or mating arenas. Leks are typically in flat, open areas with less vegetation and lower elevations, often near standing water and near sagebrush flats. In spring (between late March and early May), males visit the lek between sunset and sunrise, where they perform a spectacular courtship display for visiting females, ruffling their feathers and making a distinctive noise produced by air sacks in their chest, while defending small territories from other competing males.

The video shows Greater-sage grouse at one of the two active leks remaining in Saskatchewan, in the heart of Grasslands National Park. The video is taken with compact motion-sensor cameras, placed by Parks Canada staff well before the birds arrive at the lek, and retrieved after the monitored session (conducted from an observation point over 500 meters away) has ended and all the birds have left the site, hence causing no disturbance or interference.

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