Another day, another lek






The South Dakota prairie continues to be cold and windy.  That did not seem to be a concern for the Sharp-tailed Grouse this morning. We headed out to the lek at 5 am today bundled up again in all we owned since it was 22F with just a slight 11 mph wind gently bending the grasses. By 5:45 am, the birds were dancing all over the lek as the sky lightened slowly before 6:06 am sunrise. We never got the yellow sunlight.  Snow was predicted so the sky was low and grey...tough conditions for photographing.

In the first image above, the typical hovering aircraft position is one of several behaviors of this grouse species.  The males hop a little, strut around in this fighter jet position with very quick short running steps, and then confront another male to begin the dance again.  We saw more than 30 birds this morning. It is always hard to count and photograph and keep the trigger finger warm.  We were positioned well today with many observation choices.

Comments

  1. MarshallApril 15, 2022 at 4:03 PM

    Great photos, glad you had a good, but ‘cool’ day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MarshallApril 15, 2022 at 4:03 PM

    Great photos, glad you had a good, but ‘cool’ day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. christine penceApril 16, 2022 at 6:33 PM

      Today was even better..no wind and full sun.

      Delete
    2. Sandy ZelaskoApril 16, 2022 at 8:56 PM

      I agree! It has been a blast learning and photographing these birds.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousMay 15, 2022 at 5:41 AM

    These are just so wonderful. I have not had the experience of watching these wonderful birds. Need to do something about that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. christine penceMay 15, 2022 at 6:28 AM

      This continues to be an exploratory adventure for us, too. It sure is an exciting moment to observe when the early morning finally reveals the birds in actiom.

      Delete

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