Survival and Reproduction of Dispersing Blue Grouse

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Abstract
Dispersal in a declining population of Blue Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) was studied over four years on Hardwicke Island, British Columbia, Canada, by radio-tracking 66 individuals and reobserving or recapturing 126 banded individuals. On a 464-ha main study area, numbers of territorial males decreased from 152 to 94, breeding females from 276 to 113, and young grouse alive in late summer from 847 to 224 during the period of study. Despite this, dispersal distances did not vary between years and bore no clear relationship with adult densities in spring or density of juveniles in the previous fall. Rates of survival and reproduction for long-dispersers (grouse moving greater than the median dispersal distance) and short dispersers (grouse moving less than the median dispersal distance) were similar. Similar results were noted for grouse that left the study area (dispersers) and those that remained on the study area (non-dispersers). Overall, there was little evidence that dispersers fared poorly or that dispersal was greatly influenced by population density.

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