38 Nebraskaland • April 2019
Dance Party
STORY AND PHOTOS BY ERIC FOWLER
T
here are some things you just have to see to believe,
and others you have to hear. Few provide a treat to
both of those senses like watching prairie grouse perform
their courtship dances in the spring.
Sitting in a blind before fi rst light, you will hear the
birds fl y into the lek before you can see them. When
the greater prairie-chicken's eerie, moaning call hits
your ears, you will wonder what kind of creature could
make such a noise, and then understand why their lek
is also called a booming ground. And even after you've
heard it, you still might not believe how much noise
can be made by a sharp-tailed grouse clicking its tail
feathers together. Sprinkle in the clucks, hoots, coos
and squawks, and it's music to a birdwatcher's ears, or
anyone's for that matter.
Until darkness fades, you will strain your eyes until you
fi nd the source of the sounds. When the subject is clear,
you might shake your head in wonder as you watch
male sharptails infl ate the purple air sacs on their necks,
stomp their feet and dance in circles – or at the larger,
orange air sacs of the prairie-chicken and its upright
pinnae feathers. You will watch almost as intently as the
males watch each other when they crouch low to the
ground in a face-off . And you might wonder if any birds
ever lose an eye when they launch themselves in the air
and bare their claws at each other.
And they do it all just to try and get the girl, who will
occasionally pop in on the lek to check on the boys,
strolling through with a sense of indiff erence that causes
them to try even harder to impress her.
The dance begins in mid-March and will last into May
at a prairie near you. It's something everyone should see
and hear. And you still might not believe it.
