1 April 2016 - Something to Grouse About

What a day I had! It started at 4:45 am, which is way too early for me, not to mention I left the house before having enough coffee. But my destination for the day was to drive up the canyon and find the Greater Sage Grouse performing their courtship displays. This was a first for me: I hadn't seen a Greater Sage Grouse before, much less their displays. 

There were about 80, maybe more, birds gathered together and competing for the females. This involves a lot of strutting. The tail feathers are fanned out. They inflate and deflate their yellow throat sacs which creates a distinctive popping sound. The feathers on the chest form a big white ruff. The males also have a bright gold eyebrow. Pretty fancy. 

The hard part about this is they do most of their strutting stuff before the sun comes up. After the sun comes up they all fade into the sage brush and disappear. Thus the getting up really early part. 

But I can't even begin to tell you how much fun this was. What follows will be too many photos of Sage Grouse. When I arrived at the grouses' parade grounds it was 27 degrees. The ground and vegetation was covered with frost. Chilly and dark!

Here a couple of hens are checking out the dance. 

The hens blend in with the sage brush, but they are out there in large numbers watching the males. 

Yep, I'm an April Fool for birds.