Antelope 



No antelope observations were made in the Prairie Dog Creek 

 study area during this study (Table 9). The terrain is too 

 rough and broken to suit antelope. It also has no large 

 expanses of sagebrush (Figure 6). 



Sharp-tailed Grouse 



Only one sharp-tailed grouse dancing ground was located near 

 the Prairie Dog Creek study area. It is located south of the 

 area in the NEJ of Section 4, Township 7S, R41E. This 

 dancing ground, which is in the Kirby study area, had 8 males 

 attending it in the spring of 1979 and 10 present in 1980. 



V/aterfowl 



The Prairie Dog Creek area had only one pond, located in the 

 Jack Creek drainage, which had water in 1980 and Prairie Dog 

 Creek did not flow water much of the duration of the study. 

 Only one species of waterfowl, the mallard, was observed 

 within the study area. No broods were observed either year. 



Songbirds 



Seventy species of birds, including game species, were observed 

 on the study area (Table 55). The Cooper's hawk, prairie falcon, 

 mountain bluebird, clay-colored sparrow, and Brewer's sparrow 

 were listed by Flath (1979b) as species of special interest or 

 concern. All were suspected or known breeders in the study area. 



Two breeding bird census strips were located on the Prairie 

 Dog Creek study area, one each in ponderosa pine-juniper and 

 boxelder-ash riparian habitats (Figure 33). The sagebrush 

 habitat in the study area was not sampled but supported most 

 of the species found in sagebrush habitat on the Hanging Woman 

 Creek study area„ Tables 56 and 57 list the percent composition 

 and average number of birds observed per census run for each of 

 the bird species found on the two breeding bird census strips . 

 The average number and highest number of singing males observed 

 on each strip are also listed, along with breeding pair density 

 estimates derived from them. Chipping sparrows dominated the 

 bird population on the ponderosa pine census strip. Yellow 

 warblers, house wrens, and lark sparrows dominated the breeding 

 bird population on the riparian census strip. The riparian 

 census strip supported the most species and the highest breeding 

 pair density. 



94 



