The last time I was in Portage County, in hopes of spotting greater prairie chickens, it was a frozen snowscape, and we caught glimpses of the birds at a great distance. This morning, on the other hand, it was much warmer, the snow was long gone, the grass was greening up, and we got to see the birds performing their mating “lek” from a cozy little blind only about 30 feet away. A cherry on top was that the forecast rain never materialized. Phew!
We arrived at the blinds at around 5am, well before first light, and we heard the first “booms” at about 5:25. I counted a dozen males and at least two hens. Our guide had asked us to please stay in the blind until all the females had moved on, and she said that’s been happening by about 7:30 or 8:00 at the latest. Well, this morning, the hens took their sweet time inspecting the males, and we didn’t get out of the blinds till about 8:30. Sheesh!
In that time, though, we got to see the males perform their display and make the booming sound. With a dozen males, the sound was pretty continuous.
Here’s a video I captured, which doesn’t have the greatest focus, but does show the mating display and provides a sample of the sound.
There was also plenty of this alternate display, which I think was intended to intimidate the other males.
Sometimes a second male accepted the challenge, and here’s a pair of them squaring off.
Sometimes one or the other would back off, but sometimes there was quite the physical altercation. Once in a while, some feathers flew.
Here’s one of the two hens I saw, strolling through the performance to see if any male caught her fancy.
Here are a couple of males doing their best to impress.
In the three hours we had to observe this amazing spectacle, I took over 700 pictures, so I’ve only had time today to scan through them quickly to pick out a few representative examples. I expect that I’ll have a few more to show you in the coming days, so be forewarned.
All-in-all, I would rate the experience as “magical”, and I hope you get a chance to see it in person someday. I’d like to thank Donna, of Milwaukee Birders, for arranging the whole thing, and Dave for letting me ride along with him and listen to his crazy music all the way up and back.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 