Wildlife

Wildlife

The Nez Perce National Historic Trail ranges from the deeply incised Columbia River Plateau, across the Continental Divide and a succession of ranges, canyons, and valleys, through forests and plains, across thermal areas and major rivers. The Trail winds through some of the most rugged and spectacular scenery in western America. It traverses some of the largest undisturbed tracts of sagebrush steppe habitat, and a tremendous variety of wildlife and plant species thrive across the varied habitats of the Trail corridor.

The Nez Perce National Historic Trail supports relatively unaltered and increasingly uncommon native habitats, the quality and extent of which are unequaled in the Pacific Northwest and Great Plains. Because of the variety of terrestrial and aquatic habitats across this range, there exists a tremendous variety of plant and animal species along the Trail.

Spruce Grouse

• Scientific Name: Falcipennis canadensis
• Niimiipuutímt: é ni

Description: A dark, chicken-like bird with a fan-shaped tail. Male dusky gray-brown, with red comb over eye, black throat and upper breast, white-spotted sides, chestnut-tipped tail. Birds in northern Rockies have white tips on upper tail coverts and lack chestnut tail tip. Females of both forms browner; underparts barred with brown. The spruce grouse is also known as the Franklin's grouse and a less than flattering name of fool hen.

Range: The spruce grouse can be found along the Nez Perce National Historic Trail in coniferous forest especially along the Lolo Motorway.

Habitat: High elevation coniferous forests

Food: Conifer needles (larch, ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine) were the main food in late fall through early spring. In summer, herbaceous vegetation and insects were utilized.

Nesting: 8-11 buff eggs, plain or spotted with brown, in a hollow lined with grass and leaves concealed on the ground under low branches of a young spruce.