SUMMER HABITAT USE AND SELECTION BY FEMALE SAGE GROUSE (CENTROCERCUS-UROPHASIANUS) IN OREGON

Cover types and vegetative characteristics (e.g., grasses, forbs, shru bs) used by female Sage Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) during summ er were compared with available habitat on hr on study areas in southe astern Oregon. Broodless hens, which constituted 114 of the 125 (91%) radio-marked hens studied, selected big (Artemisia tridentata subspp.) and low sagebrush (A, arbuscula) cover types at both study areas. At Hart Mountain, broodless hens did not select specific vegetative chara cteristics within cover types. However, at Jackass Creek, forb cover w as greater (P = .004) at broodless hen sites than at random locations. Differences in habitat use by broodless hens between study areas were associated with differences in forb availability. Broodless hens used a greater diversity of cover types than hens with broods. Broodless h ens gathered in flocks and remained separate from but near hens with b roods during early summer. By early July broodless hens moved to meado ws while hens with broods remained in upland habitats.