Last Flights: Gunnison Sage Grouse

Deceptively similar to the Greater Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) (which is comparatively more common and widespread), the Gunnison Sage Grouse (Centrocercus minimus) is smaller, more limited in its range, and the male sports a far longer 'crest' of elongated dark plumes behind its head. The tail feathers of the males (most prominent in display) are also banded with wider strips of white than in the Greater Sage Grouse. Threatened by loss of habitat, Federal protection has been granted to this bird, angering many American citizens as protection of this bird's habitat can lead to restrictions on the extraction of natural resources such as oil in the Grouse's habitat. Some even believe that the Gunnison Grouse was split from the Greater Sage Grouse due to political motives. A biological oddity, this diminutive (comparatively) species is even now caught up at the centre of a political struggle between opposing ideologies: the Gunnison Grouse's survival hangs on a figurative knife edge, caught between conflicts between laymen, governors, and citizens. As is too often these days, conservation is seen increasingly by the more radical as a tool of the government to undermine its citizens- the status of this eccentric-looking game bird is (as yet) living proof of such mindsets..