The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has asked a federal judge for some additional time to make a decision about whether to add the greater sage grouse to the list of endangered and threatened species.
The agency's request, which follows the death last weekend of its director, would allow it to hold off on a determination until March 5.
Ruling in a lawsuit filed by Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill reversed a 2007 decision by the administration of President George W. Bush not to grant the species protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Oil and gas extraction and livestock grazing are the major culprits in the species' decline.
The greater sage grouse (Centrocerus urophasianus), a brown, chicken-sized bird found in most of the Western states, depends on sagebrush for habitat.
The species is known for its unique mating habits, in which males gather in groups called "leks" and strut before gatherings of females. The females then choose partners.
Once common throughout the American west, greater sage grouse have been extirpated from Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
