Grouse, Ptarmigans and Prairie-chickens Tetraonidae
Restricted to the Holarctic, this family has 7 genera of which 3 are thus far described below. Of the 18 species, the recently split Gunnison Sage-grouse Centrocercus minimus is listed as endangered. The Greater Prairie-chicken Tympanuchus cupido and Lesser Prairie-chicken Tympanuchus pallidicinctus are both vulnerable. The Chinese Grouse Bonasa sewerzowi, Greater Sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus and Siberian Grouse Dendragapus falcipennis are near-threatened. Most taxonomists now place this family as a subfamily within the Pheasants and Partridges Phasianidae.



Dendragapus
There are 4 species within this genus. The Siberian Grouse Dendragapus falcipennis is near-threatened.

Formerly called the Blue Grouse, the Dusky Grouse Dendragapus obscurus was recently re-split from the Sooty Grouse Dendragapus fuliginosus. Dusky Grouse are usually found in or near dry mixed and conifer forests mainly in the Rocky Mountains of western North America. Photographed in the Kaibab National Forest, near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona, July 2007.





Tympanuchus
There are 3 species within this genus. The Greater Prairie-chicken Tympanuchus cupido and Lesser Prairie-chicken Tympanuchus pallidicinctus are both vulnerable.

The Lesser Prairie-chicken Tympanuchus pallidicinctus has a limited range in the sandhills and prairies of the south-central United States. This male was photographed displaying on a lek just north of Caprock, near Roswell, New Mexico, April 2008.





Lagopus
There are 3 species in this single genus.

The Rock Ptarmigan Lagopus muta inhabits rocky tundra with fairly sparse vegetation across northern North America, Greenland and northern Eurasia. This breeding plumaged male was photographed at the abandoned Loran Station, Adak Island, Aleutians, Alaska, May 2002.






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