Greater sage-grouse chick killed by Great Basin gopher snake
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Abstract
Despite extensive range overlap between Great Basin gopher snakes (Pituophis catenifer deserticola) and Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) within sagebrush ecosystems, there are few documented predator–prey interactions between these species. Although gopher snakes have been observed preying on nests of other prairie grouse, studies that used video-monitoring at sage-grouse nests found gopher snakes unable to consume sage-grouse eggs and reported just a single instance of a snake consuming a <1-day-old chick in a nest bowl. On the morning of 4 June 2018 at 04:55, we observed a Great Basin gopher snake killing, constricting, and attempting to consume a 19-day-old sage-grouse chick in the foothills of the Owyhee Mountains, southwestern Idaho. This observation is the first record of a gopher snake killing a sage-grouse chick during the late brood-rearing period and highlights the likelihood that large gopher snakes are a cause of chick mortality from hatch day to at least 19 days post-hatch.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Greater sage-grouse chick killed by Great Basin gopher snake |
| Series title | Western North American Naturalist |
| DOI | 10.3398/064.080.0107 |
| Volume | 80 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Year Published | 2020 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Brigham Young University |
| Contributing office(s) | Western Ecological Research Center |
| Description | 4 p. |
| First page | 70 |
| Last page | 73 |
| Country | United States |
| State | Idaho |
| County | Owyhee County |
| Other Geospatial | Owyhee Mountains |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |