HAY RIVER - In the NWT, it's common to hear people talk about chickens.

But many times they're not talking about poultry on display at a grocery store.

Instead, the discussion is likely about wild birds.

Ken Hudson and his granddaughter Madison Hudson carry a collection of ruffed grouse during a hunting trip about two years ago. - photo courtesy of Ken Hudson

Well-known Fort Smith hunter Ken Hudson says "chicken" is a term, sort of a nickname, used in the NWT for several species of grouse - ruffed, spruce and sharp-tailed.

"It's a common name," he said. "I've heard that for 50 years now."

Bob Bromley, a birdwatcher and former bird biologist with the territorial government, said he also grew up in Yellowknife hearing grouse called chickens.

"That's all I knew them as."

Hudson noted a sharp-tailed grouse is also called a prairie chicken. "Everybody calls them that, but they aren't prairie chickens.aid.

The greater prairie chicken is mostly found in the western United States, while the lesser prairie chicken is found in small sections of several southwest states, including Texas and New Mexico.

Sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chickens look very similar.

However, Hudson said prairie chickens are more colourful around the neck and feathers than sharp-tailed grouse.

They spread their wings towards the front, lean forward and shake, he explained, noting he has never seen a real prairie chicken, but knows of them from books and television.

Hudson believes sharp-tailed grouse are called prairie chickens because they are often seen in open areas.

"The true prairie chicken are found in fields."

Bromley noted grouse may have also been called chickens because the meat looks somewhat similar.

Hudson said the most common "chicken" seen in the NWT is the spruce grouse, because it often carelessly stands on the highway and is slow to move out of the way of oncoming traffic. Sharp-tailed grouse mostly keep to the edge of the bush.

"Very seldom do you see them in the middle of the road," Hudson said, adding that they occasionally venture onto the road to eat gravel, which helps with digestion.

Hudson, who is also president of the Fort Smith Metis Council, said his favourite chicken to hunt is the ruffed grouse, because it tastes the best.

While grouse are known as chickens, the nickname does not apply to the related ptarmigan, he noted. "A ptarmigan is a ptarmigan."