Greater Prairie Chickens

On April 27 I was privledged, as part of the Kansas Birding Festival, to get up at 3:00 to be in a van at 4:30, and go to Fort Riley to view Greater Prairie Chickens on their "booming grounds" or leks. The only leks in this part of the state are on restricted property, either at Ft. Riley or on the restricted areas of the Konza Prairie. We were only able to get into this area of Ft. Riley because the Festival organizers had the foresight to get a biologist from the fort on their planning committee.

By 5:00 we were in blinds, waiting silently for the Chickens to show up. Just before sunrise (around 6:35, if I recall correctly) the males began flying in and started booming, which sounds just like someone blowing across the top of a soda bottle. When the sun came up, we could see the males doing their thing (booming, jumping, inflating their neck pouches, raising their tail and neck feathers, and doing the silliest dance you could imagine), to attract the attention of any females who might show up.

The first picture is an uncropped image, to give you some idea of how far off the birds were. This was taken with a 400mm lens on a 1.6 crop body, so you can see that, at least on this day, the birds kept their distance from the blinds.

(All pics taken with 40D, 100-400 L at 400mm, f/5.6)

Click on the links to view the pictures. C&C welcome.

1. ISO 800, 1/640 sec. 7:05 a.m.
http://members.cox.net​/ksbirds/GPC-Original-7007.jpg

2. This is a cropped version of #1, getting in a bit closer.
http://members.cox.net …-Prairie-Chicken-7007.jpg

3. ISO 800, 1/1250 sec. 7:19 a.m. You can see the female in the background. This was the only female that showed up while we were there. There were about 15 males competing for her attention.
http://members.cox.net …-Prairie-Chicken-7039.jpg

4. ISO 400, 1/1000 sec. 7:34 a.m. A little combat between two males.
http://members.cox.net …-Prairie-Chicken-7085.jpg

That's a cool series. Looks like those guys are getting a little rowdy.

These are all nice, but that last one is great.

I was parked at a rest area half way through Kansas and woke up to them booming just outside the mowed grass area one morning. No camera.

rpearce12 wrote in post #5571226
That's a cool series. Looks like those guys are getting a little rowdy.

Thanks. It was worth the wait in the cold.

canonloader wrote in post #5571233
These are all nice, but that last one is great.

I was parked at a rest area half way through Kansas and woke up to them booming just outside the mowed grass area one morning. No camera.

Thanks also. I wish we could have been closer, as it would have made for better images, but the biologists put the birds' welfare first, as it should be.