A collection of thoughts and photos of my life and work in the northern Great Plains of North America (and occasionally other places in the world).
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Just Gotta Dance - The Other Grouse
This morning I went out to a Sharptail Grouse lek I hadn't visited before, in an area that I had surprisingly never previously ventured into which resulted in me driving down a dirt road in the early morning dark trying to find a spot on the map. Thankfully there were a couple of grouse in the road or I might have missed the lek on the first pass.
I really like watching Sharptails dance. They are much more active than Sage-Grouse, with lots of chuckles, cackles and growling to go along with the foot stomping.
It was a gorgeous morning with no wind. The birds were very active with a number of females flying into the lek resulting in mass dancing and chasing by the displaying males.
On my way home I also stopped by a small Greater Sage-Grouse lek and watched four males displaying to about as many females.
The area that I wound up driving through was wonderful and I plan on going back and checking it out a bit more. I also hope to get back to this lek for a few more photos this spring.
Labels:
bird,
birding,
Montana,
Sharp-tailed Grouse
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4 comments:
Sharp-tails are so amazing--I get to hang out among them in the NEbraska Sandhills next weekend, and your images have made my anticipation that much more eager!~
rick
I am looking forward to your report when you get a chance! Cranes and grouse? I hope to have a bunch more photos next weekend too. Hope you have a great trip and hopefully spring will decide to show up by then.
Great pics of wonderful lekkers. One of these days I want to see them do their thing myself.
These are very nice shots. I don't see much of those big birds around our area. Just second time in my life I saw wild turkey today, but I couldn't take photo as they disappear in the forest really fast. Thanks for sharing. Very nice blog you have here. Anna :)
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