Appendix F Detailed Cover Type Tables - USDA Rural Development

Bemidji – Grand Rapids
Biological Assessment and Evaluation
Females also have black tails with brown terminal bands but are paler than males and
have a gray‐brown or reddish‐brown plumage with considerable amounts of white
barring on the under‐parts.
In the Great Lakes region, the spruce grouse could be confused only with the ruffed
grouse, a species of similar size, which can also share the same habitats. The two species
can readily be distinguished at close range by tail color (pale with sub‐terminal dark
band in ruffed grouse but dark with a lighter terminal band in spruce grouse) and by the
presence of a crest. Ruffed grouse erect their crown feathers to form a crest when
alarmed while spruce grouse do not.
Species Habitat
Spruce grouse are a species of coniferous forests including spruce, pine, and fir. Nesting and foraging
habitat consists of conifer dominated habitats. The adult spruce grouse prefer to eat the needles of
black spruce and white spruce trees. They also feed on jack pine and tamarack. During summer they eat
blueberries and snowberries; they eat invertebrates such as caterpillars and grasshoppers during the
nesting season (Tekiela, 1998). Young of the year feed primarily on insects during the summer. In
Minnesota, spruce grouse live in the birch and evergreen (coniferous) forests of extreme northern
Minnesota, generally the northern portions of Beltrami, Cook, Lake, St. Louis, Hubbard, Itasca,
Koochiching, and Lake of the Woods counties (Janssen, 1987).
Species Distribution and Occurrences within the Study Area
The spruce grouse is a bird of North American short‐needled conifer forests. Its range includes most of
Alaska and continental Canada, south of the treeline. It extends south into the northern Rockies,
northern Minnesota, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and northern New England. In Minnesota, the spruce
grouse is widely distributed across the extreme northern counties (Gregg et al., 2002). The spruce
grouse is a non‐migratory species. CNF and DRM historic and recent records show one record on USFS
lands and none occur within the Study Area.
Risk Factors
Risk factors include alteration of forest type, deforestation and predation (Gregg et al., 2002).
4.2.1.13 Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis)
The sandhill crane is listed as DRM Threatened.
Species Description
The NatureServe Online Encyclopedia of Life (NatureServe, 2009) includes the following species
description:
A tall, long‐necked, long‐legged bird with a clump of feathers that droops over the
rump; flies with neck and legs fully extended; adults are gray overall (may have
brownish‐red staining resulting from preening with muddy bill), with a whitish chin,
cheek, and upper throat, and dull red skin on the crown and lores (lacking in
immatures); immatures have a pale to tawny, feathered head and neck, and a gray body
with brownish‐red mottling; average length around 104 cm, wingspan 185 cm (NGS
1983).
Species Habitat
Sandhill cranes are primarily birds of open fresh water wetlands, but the different subspecies utilize
habitats that range from bogs, sedge meadows, and fens to open grasslands, pine savannas, and
July 2010 Species and Associated Habitat Page 4‐19