The ten currently recognized species of grouse in North America have played an important role in America's history, from the famous but ill-fated heath hen, a primary source of meat for the earliest New England immigrants, to the ruffed grouse, currently one of the most abundant and soughtafter upland game birds in more than 40 states and provinces. This book summarizes the ecology, reproductive biology, and social behavior of all ten of the extant North American grouse species. It also describes the current status of grouse populations, some of which are perilously close to extinction. The social behavior of grouse is of special biological interest because among these ten species there is a complete mating system spectrum, from seasonally monogamous pair-bonding to highly promiscuous mating patterns. The latter group illustrates the strong structural and behavioral effects of sexual selection resulting from nonmonogamous mating. These influences reach a peak in the development by some grouse species of engaging in mating "leks," arena-like competitions performed by males while attempting to attract fertile females, and also provide opportunities for females to select optimum mating partners. These sexual competitions also promote strong differences evolving in sexual signaling behaviors ("displays") among closely related species. Nevertheless, a relatively high incidence of mating errors and resulting hybridization often occurs in spite of these marked behavioral differences. In addition to a text of 101,000 words, the book includes 16 range maps, 37 line drawings, and 38 photographs by the author, as well as nearly 1,400 literature citations.

Among birds, swans are relatively long-lived species and are also among the most strongly monogamous, having prolonged pair and family bonds that strongly influence their reproductive and general social behavior, which, in combination with their beauty and elegance, contribute to the overall high degree of worldwide human interest in them. This volume of more than 59,000 words describes the distributions, ecology, social behavior, and breeding biologies of the four species of swans that breed or have historically bred in North America, including the native trumpeter and tundra swans, the introduced mute swan, and the marginally occurring whooper swan. Also included are 5 distribution maps, 15 drawings, 27 photographs by the author, and a reference section of nearly 1,000 literature citations.

The eight currently recognized species of North American geese are part of a familiar group of birds collectively called waterfowl, all of which are smaller than swans and generally larger than ducks. They include the most popular of our aquatic gamebirds, with several million shot each year by sport hunters. Our two most abundant waterfowl, the Canada goose and snow goose, have populations collectively totaling about 15 million individuals. Like swans, the lifelong pairbonding of geese, their familial care, and prolonged social attachment to their offspring are legendary. Their seasonal migratory flights sometimes span thousands of miles, and the sight of their long, wavering flight formations are as much the symbols of seasonal change as are the spring songs of cardinals or the appearance of autumnal leaf colors. This book describes each species' geographic range and subspecies, its identification traits, weights and measurements, and criteria for its age and sex determination. Ecological and behavioral information includes each species' breeding and wintering habitats, its foods and foraging behavior, its local and long distance movements, and its relationships with other species. Reproductive information includes each species' age of maturity, pair-bond pattern, pair-forming behaviors, usual clutch sizes and incubation periods, brooding behavior, and postbreeding behavior. Mortality sources and rates of egg, young, and adult losses are also summarized, and each species' past and current North American populations are estimated. In addition to a text of nearly 60,000 words, the book includes 8 maps, 21 line drawings, and 28 photographs by the author, as well as more than 700 literature citations.

This book surveys Wyoming's mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian faunas. In addition to introducing the state's geography, geology, climate, and major ecosystems, it provides 65 biological profiles of 72 mammal species, 195 profiles of 196 birds, 9 profiles of 12 reptiles, and 6 profiles of 9 amphibians. There are also species lists of Wyoming's 117 mammals, 445 birds, 22 reptiles, and 12 amphibians. Also included are descriptions of nearly 50 national and state properties, including parks, forests, preserves, and other public-access natural areas in Wyoming. The book includes a text of more than 150,000 words, nearly 700 references, a glossary of 115 biological terms, nearly 50 maps and line drawings by the author, and 33 color photographs by Thomas D. Mangelsen.

This annotated list of the birds of Nebraska grew gradually out of research associated with my writing of the Birds of the Great Plains: Breeding Species and Their Distribution (Johnsgard, 1979a). It expands and updates an earlier version that was published in 2013 by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries DigitalCommons' Zea Books (Johnsgard, 2013a). It has been updated and modified in its current revision to conform with the most recent (2017) major revision of the American Ornithologists' Society's Checklist of North American Birds (Chesser et al., 2017). It has also been modified in its current revision to conform very closely to the most recent "Official List of the Birds of Nebraska" by the Nebraska Ornithologists' Union (Gubanyi, 1997, and later supplements in the Nebraska Bird Review, to 84:138-150). The NOU's official state list of birds (461 species as of 2017) is based on actual specimen evidence or some other convincing basis of each species' proven occurrence in the state. That list includes 337 "regular" species, 29 "casual" species, 90 "accidental" species, and 5 extinct or extirpated species. In this edition I have classified 368 of the 461 species of Nebraska birds as ranging in relative frequency of occurrence as "abundant" to "rare." There are also 61 species considered to be of "accidental" occurrence, having been reliably reported in Nebraska no more than five times, 20 that are considered "extremely rare" or "very rare," if reported from six to 25 times. There are also three extinct, four extirpated, and five unsuccessfully introduced species. Thirteen hypothetical species of dubious origin or identification are mentioned parenthetically. The text includes more than 123,000 words, nearly 200 literature references, and 19 pages of drawings and maps.

"Adaptive Strategies and Population Ecology of Northern Grouse" was first published in 1988. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. This book is at once a major reference to the species of grouse that inhabit North America and the Holarctic and a synthesis of all the available data on their ecology, sociobiology, population dynamics, and management. The book undertakes to answer two long-standing questions in population ecology: what actually regulates the numbers within a population, and what are the breeding and survival strategies evolved in this northern environment? For Volume I, editors Arthur T. Bergerud and Michael W. Gratson have drawn together their own work and that of colleagues in North America, Iceland, and Norway--in all, eleven research studies, averaging six years' duration, on eight species of grouse. These studies deal with the blue and ruffed grouse of the forest habitat; the sharp-tailed grouse, prairie chicken, and sage grouse of the prairie or steppe; and the white-tailed, rick, and willow ptarmigan found in alpine and arctic tundras. The authors describe the rich repertoire of behavior patterns developed by the hen and the cock to achieve their two primary objectives--first, to stay alive, and then to breed. Volume II, primarily the work of Bergerud, synthesizes the evidence in Volume I and in the grouse research literature from a theoretical perspective. Several potentially controversial sociobiological hypotheses are advanced to account for flocking behavior, migration, dispersal, roosting and feeding behavior, mate choice and mating systems. The demographic analysis provides new insights into cycles of abundance, the limitation of numbers, and the demographic factors that determine densities. The contributors, besides Bergerud and Gratson: R.C. Davies, A. Gardarson, J.E. Hartzler, R.A. Huempfner, D.A. Jenni, D.H. Mossop, S. Myrberget, R.E. Page, R.K. Schmidt, W.D. Svedarsky, and J.R. Tester.

This book documents the biology of six species of New World quails that are native to North America north of Mexico (mountain, scaled, Gambel's, California, and Montezuma quails, and the northern bobwhite), three introduced Old World partridges (chukar, Himalayan snowcock, and gray partridge), and the introduced common (ring-necked) pheasant. Collectively, quails, partridges, and pheasants range throughout all of the continental United States and the Canadian provinces. Two of the species, the northern bobwhite and ring-necked pheasant, are the most economically important of all North American upland game birds. All of the species are hunted extensively for sport and are highly popular with naturalists, birders, and other outdoor enthusiasts.