Sharp-tailed Grouse

This morning I had intentions of getting up early and going back to the Sharp-tailed Grouse lek I visited last week. It just didn't happen. I was able to get up early enough to check out a lek site that I hadn't been to in a number of years and found a good number of birds there.



After a week of traveling and meetings I was certainly ready to have some time out, but I had to get back early for a fireman meeting (new truck!) and then take care of the boys for the day. Tomorrow though..

I found this video via the Oceanites feed (check out the The Team header to find out more about the great folks I get to work with). There is some great Leopard Seal footage to go along with an overall great video of an even more unknown Antarctica.

Blizzard

Mom and Dad got back today from Freezout Lake, near Choteau MT and I got to see a few photos. This was by far my favorite.

Here is a closeup from somewhere in the middle of the photo above.



Its amazing that they all just don't crash into each other.

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.

Photos

I have started a photo gallery I will share with my dad at PBase. I have a few photos loaded so far and I will keep adding photos as I get a chance. Check it out if you get a chance. Hopefully I can get Dad squared away and he can start loading some of his favorites too. He and Mom are off to Freezout Lake near Great Falls, MT to watch Snow Geese and attend a meeting this weekend. Hopefully there will be thousands of Snow Geese for them to watch along with a few Ross Geese and other assorted waterfowl. One of these springs we need to make that trip too. I hope to have a few photos from him when he gets back.

Extreme Ice

I just finished watching a great documentary called "Extreme Ice" on PBS. It is a joint effort between Nova and National Geographic and documents changes to the Greenland Ice Cap through the work of a photographer and scientists working on the ice cap. They documented entire lakes, 40 feet deep and miles across, disappearing from the surface of the ice cap in 40 minutes. Then the photographer, James Balog, rappelled into the drain holes left behind to take spectacular photos of the resulting cobalt blue icescape. He described it as something like "frightening, beautiful, evil, and gorgeous." The complex feedback between melt water, sea water, and glacial flow as also discussed. If you have a decent internet connection you can watch it online at the link above. I would recommend it catching it however you can.

More Pied Goose

John, from A D.C. Birding Blog, asked about the partially white goose I posted a photo of earlier. Here are a few more photos of the bird. It is in the lower right portion of each photo. When I saw it later in the week it was standing in a field facing right and the white side and wing was very evident.