More Sharptailed grouse

Hit the Sharptailed grouse leks this morning and saw over 30 of them.  Another great show - but no fight up close to get pictures of.  First came the displays, dancing and posturing.

This fellow came the closest to me and you can see some of the battle scars on his purple air sacks from the fights.

The dance includes the stomping of feet, rubbing the two middle tail feathers together while the tail is held high, puffing out the purple air sacks on the neck and extending the bright yellow combs on the head, spreading the wings and dancing in circles.  All this to attract the females.  Show-offs.

Here a hen comes in and surveys the 20 males looking for a suitable mate.  Breeding happens so fast with Sharptails, that by the time you realize something is happening it is over.  I have never been able to capture the breeding being done.

After the sun came up,  a young male tried to horn in on the dominate males near the middle of the lek.  First one of the older males would chase him, running through the thick dead grass or flying after him.  I was lucky enough to capture a couple of these chases.

Another.....

Just another great start of a wild day in Idaho.

Sharptailed grouse are at it again.

The Sharptailed grouse are at it again.  Chasing the girls and fighting over bragging and breeding rights.  With their tails held high, looking like popcorn exploding, they are not hard to find once you get into their area.  The beating of the ground with their feets and their calls can be heard for a quarter of a mile.  Most of the battles are short but occasionally a battle over the center of the lek can be several minutes long.  I just witnessed one such battle last week.

It started with a challenger attacking the dominate bird on the lek.

The fierce battle ensued.  They locked bills, not unlike a lustful Hollywood french kiss, with both bodies twisting trying to gain control over the opponent.

Soon after the "kiss" broke up, both bird would fly into the air beating each other with their wings.  At one time, both locked onto the left wing of the other with such violence I thought we might end up with a broken wing - but they survived without anything broken.

To end the battle, the dominent bird "pinned" the challenger, by flipping it on its back.

To escape the fierce battle, the losser flew to the hood of my truck, resting there for a couple of minutes before it realized there may be danger inside.

Meanwhile, the victor rested on the ground showing the feathers of honor still in its beak, daring any other bird stupid enough to challenge him.

What a way to start another wild day in Idaho.  Two hours of sex and violence beating the heck out of  any TV show or movie I have seen - except for some recent Sage grouse shows.

Sharptails and wind

When I got out of bed this morning at 5 there were no clouds and no wind. By the time I got to the leks the clouds had rolled in and soon after the wind began to blow. I got a few good pictures with the aid of my flash, which does not spook the grouse. But I was really never able to get enough good light to get some good pictures until I had to leave. There were 14 males and three females on the lek.
I also had Meadowlarks, sparrows, curlews, Harriers, mallards, Canadas, Short-eared owls and ravens fly over. Seven antelope came by but kept their distance.
By the time I got home to get ready to go to school, the wind was howling. TV said we had gusts of 50 mph - too strong for man, beast, birds and insects. It blew all my bird feed out of the feeders on the ground and I had goldfinches, house finches, pine siskins and Red-winged blackbirds feeding on the ground.
Two interesting photos I got were of a Northern flicker hanging flat against a tree trunk and a fly hiding from the wind in the bottom of a tulip.
A fellow teacher and friend, reported seeing Redpolls, White-crowned sparrows, Ruby-crowned kinglets, White-winged and Red crossbills in his yard this morning. I have never seen kinglets in my yard, hopefully they will make the mile journey to my yard.
If you enjoy these pictures let me know.