W
e're in the Sandhills, just 3
miles south of Ainsworth,
where wind turbines stand
like outlanders in pristine cowboy
country. Their blinking red lights
flash through the night, seeming like
UFOs hovering across the desert-
like landscape, while the silver
moon reveals the turbines' towering
silhouettes against the inky night sky.
All is silent, except the slow, steady
cadence of revolving blades. And with
a single stroke, a band of color and
light appears over the long horizon.
From a distance, a strange cackling
noise and a rush of feather approaches.
The birds arrive like clockwork,
one by one, crashing onto the grass
from all directions. They are male
greater prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus
cupido), stout and nearly comical,
scurrying at the break of dawn to take
their positions. As if in a trance, the
chickens all begin to stomp their feet,
lower their heads and puff up their
plumage to show dominance. And with
each bow, tails snap up boldly toward
the heavens and black feather "ears"
rise like antennas, revealing large,
orange air sacs on their necks that
inflate and deflate with each "boom."
An unusual long, low hum escapes
from each male hoping to attract a
hen: whooo-doo-doooh … whooo-doo-
doooh … whooo-doo-doooh …
Periodically, two males may fight – a
brief scrimmage of taunting clucks,
ruffled wings and claws. The most
dominant male wins center stage,
catching the attention of the hens
walking along the lek's perimeter.
Most of the other males are ignored as
the females attempt to reach the most
impressive suitor.
An annual mating ritual that lasts
from late March through May, the
prairie chickens' dance has awed
inhabitants and visitors to the Great
Plains for hundreds of years. Their
presence in the Sandhills is both fixture
and magic, but recently, something in
the Nebraska landscape is changing.
What was once an uninterrupted
view of land and sky is now becoming
Think of the Chickens
The effects of wind turbine farms on
greater prairie-chickens
Story and photos by Jenny Nguyen
PHOTO
BY
JENNY
NGUYEN
46 NEBRASKAland • NOVEMBER 2016
Wind turbines spin
at twilight on the
Nebraska Public
Power District's
wind farm near
Ainsworth.
