Tympanuchus cupido
Silhouette: Samantha Straus · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The greater prairie-chicken or pinnated grouse (Tympanuchus cupido), sometimes called a boomer, is a large bird in the grouse tribe. This North American species was once abundant but has become extremely rare or extirpated over much of its range due to habitat loss, natural disasters, and overhunting. Conservation measures are underway to ensure the sustainability of existing small populations. One of the most famous aspects of these creatures is the mating ritual called booming.
Carl Linnaeus based his account on the "Le Cocq de bois d'Amerique" that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. Catesby had seen greater prairie-chickens in 1743 at the home of the Earl of Wilmington in the then village of Chiswick, 7 mi (11 km) west of London. The Earl believed that that his birds had come from North America but did not know from where. Linnaeus specified the type locality as Virginia but this has been changed to Pennsylvania by the American Ornithologists' Union.
The greater prairie-chicken was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Badlands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shedd Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Fort Worth Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Bayou Safari Wildlife Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Iowa Raptor Project | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center and Woods Garden | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Woods Hole Science Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Fossil Rim Wildlife Center | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Prairie-Chicken sighting in Badlands National Park on a given day, based on 29 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 117th most-seen of the 120 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Greater Prairie-Chicken in Badlands National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to August, the lowest months.
Only Badlands National Park, in our data
Badlands National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Greater Prairie-Chicken sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Greater Prairie-Chicken is recorded against all the birds logged in Badlands National Park (29 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
