One of Michigan's least common upland game birds is coming increasingly into focus as the Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division eyes the sharp-tailed grouse.

Found mostly in the grasslands and shrublands of the eastern Upper Peninsula, sharptail numbers have declined since the 1950s, though recent surveys show there may be more of the game birds in Michigan than many people thought.

A mottled brown, tan and white grouse that gets its name from the shape of its primary tail feathers, sharptails average about 20 inches in length and weigh around two pounds. They are common in many places in the western United States and Canada. Michigan is the bird's extreme eastern range in the U.S. (though they do range into Quebec).

David Luukkonen, a DNR wildlife research biologist, helped design a new survey technique and spent a couple of days last spring in the eastern U.P. looking for sharptails.

"We were pleasantly surprised by the numbers of birds we found," Luukkonen said. "We weren't sure what to expect because the old surveys relied on going to the same established lek (dancing grounds) year after year. But we did a radio-telemetry study with Michigan Tech University and found the birds aren't always faithful to one lek. They move around a lot. If we're just going back to the same place year to year, we may not be getting good index of changes in the population."

For the spring survey, DNR crews looked for birds in both traditional areas as well as other suitable habitat.

"We not only went to established leks, but we also did random samples of other open-land areas," Luukkonen said. "A little more than half the areas we surveyed had sharp-tailed grouse in them. So we're pretty optimistic about that number. And we surveyed areas multiple times and, in turn, found out that on any given morning you'll only detect them when they're there about half the time. So we're pleased to be getting a more accurate estimate."

The first documented sighting of a sharp-tailed grouse in Michigan occurred in 1888 on Isle Royale. Although it never has been documented that the birds are native to the Lower Peninsula, most grouse experts assume they were because the plains and savannas of southwestern Michigan would have been good habitat and the birds were documented in northern Ohio and around Chicago.

Sharp-tailed grouse were widespread across the Upper Peninsula following the logging era and in places where fires opened up the landscape. More numerous in the western U.P., sharptail numbers dwindled as the habitat succeeded back into forests. But a population remained established in the eastern U.P.

In the meantime, populations were established in suitable habitat by trap-and-transfer programs across much of the northern Lower Peninsula. Not only were birds from Michigan used to establish those flocks, but sharptails also were imported from Wisconsin and Alberta as well. The Department of Conservation established a number of management units for sharptails on state land. But forest regrowth eventually eliminated much of the birds' habitat. By the late 1980s, an estimated 90 percent of sharp-tailed grouse habitat had disappeared. (It's worthy to note that breeding bird surveys conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show that grassland bird species have declined more than those using any other habitat type during that time frame.)

Sharp-tailed grouse were popular with bird hunters for many years, but gradually only the eastern U.P. held sizable populations. Sharptail populations, like those of other grouse species, are thought to cycle up and down over three- to 10-year periods in some parts of their range. Although the cycle is not well understood, lek surveys showed declining numbers and some biologists became concerned about the population's viability. The hunting season was closed in 1996.

Now, because of data collected in the new survey, some biologists question whether closing the season was necessary.

Sharp-tailed grouse are popular with many bird watchers, in part because of their lavish courtship rituals. On spring mornings, male sharptails fly into leks where they dance to attract females. The birds arch their wings, raise their tails, and twist and turn while stamping their feet. The birds make a number of sounds, ranging from vocalizations to "rattling," sounds created by shaking their wing feathers. On quiet mornings, these sounds can be heard for a half mile or more.

That's how the spring survey is conducted: by listening for the courting males.

"We've got sharptails all the way across the eastern U.P.," said Terry Minzey, the DNR wildlife supervisor for that region. "In Chippewa County, they're mostly on private land, but as you move west to Luce, Schoolcraft and Alger counties, most of them are on public land."

According to Minzey, DNR wildlife personnel along with the Forest, Mineral and Fire Management Division have formed a coalition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Hiawatha National Forest and the Sharp-tailed Grouse Association to manage for more open space on the east end of the U.P.

"Sharptails are not like a prairie chicken that needs wide-open land," Minzey explained. "They're more of shrubland species. But they do need maybe a 60 percent open complex.

"We've identified core openings on public land and we want to maintain those core openings and do rotational clearcuts so we don't take additional lands out of forest management, but we're expanding our complexes. As those cuts grow up and out of sharptail habitat, then maybe we can schedule additional cuts. The basic premise is to maximize openings without further reducing productive forests."

Populations of sharp-tailed grouse around the Seney National Wildlife Refuge are at least stable, perhaps increasing, said Dr. Greg Corace, the refuge forester.

"We have no idea how many birds we have," Corace said. "There tends to be too much emphasis on a number. We know we have more birds in more areas now than we have had in the seven years I've been here. Numbers go up and numbers go down -- you ride out the low periods and enjoy the high periods."

Although not managing specifically for sharptails, Corace said the refuge's prescribed burning program is beneficial to the birds.

"Fire is important to this landscape and we are burning big blocks," he said. "Our research has shown that before the white man arrived here, every 40 to 60 years we'd get a big fire event. We're trying to burn up to 5,000 acres every year. Fire is probably the most important natural disturbance we have. And sharptails seem to love it, not only now but the historical record also suggests it as well."

The Seney area "was the mecca for hunting sharptails in the 1930s, '40s and '50s and the wildlife refuge is a big part of that," Corace said.

Though an upland game species, Corace says sharptails can be found throughout Seney's marshes.

"They're not using the wettest parts of our marshes, but they're out there."

Whether sharptails continue to persist in Michigan likely will depend on land management. Unless human actions continue to maintain open spaces, through cutting and burning, the Upper Peninsula eventually will succeed to forests.

"The distribution and numbers of sharptails are largely driven by habitat -- open grasslands and grassland/shrubland complexes," said Al Stewart, DNR upland game bird specialist. "The extent of that habitat is what's going to dictate the future for sharp-tailed grouse in Michigan."