SCHIESS: Flurry of activity in Sharp-tailed grouse territory

The thickening clouds for the predicted heavy rains made a great coloring of the eastern sky as I half dozed waiting for the actors to arrive — but the clouds would limit the light for great pictures. I had hoped for more light but it would still be a morning of firsts.

Even before I could see the male Sharp-tailed grouse gathering at the lek or breeding ground, I could hear the dancing, the rasping of tail feathers, hooting and fighting going on between the males. All the activity from them indicated there were hens showing up and the males were showing off for them.

I was positioned near the center of the lek where the two most dominant males gathered and in the increasing light I observed them busy chasing the other males from their areas. It was a flight attack when any of the younger males got close to a patch of tall grass just off the center.

As the light increased six shadowy camouflaged females appeared in the tall grass picking drops of water off the stems and leaves of the dead grass; basically ignoring the males fighting around them. The most dominate male protected the northern border while the second most dominate the southern where the females had parked.

Occasionally one of the lesser males would break through the defense and scatter the females by chasing them and the bosses would have to widen their defensive position until the hens worked back in. The hens only had desires for the two males with the largest yellow combs as eyebrows.

As most of the males settled into an area for displaying, a hen crouched in front of the first male and I witnessed for the first time I have ever seen the breeding of sharp-tails take place. I would witness it four times as the main male covered three females and the second guy would breed one after it was light enough for me to record it with my camera.

As the females left one by one the activity diminished with an occasional fight but more hooting than clucking and a few displays. Many of the males instead of fighting would have face to face arguments but the energy appeared to have been lost with the hens leaving.

Soon the fringe males started hiking or flying off leaving only the two dominate males to work things out. With their morning chores done, the two came face to face and stared at each other for about 15 minutes until the second guy decided it was time for a change of power. Attack.

For about two minutes of beating wings, leaping into the air and stomping on each other entertained me. I noticed that the grabbing each other by the mouth, similar to a violent French kiss, or the attacks to the purple neck air sacks or the bright yellow combs were the preferred targets. Once one of these areas was grabbed the fight ended and they assumed the “on guard” position with an argument resumed.

After a 15 minute break, round two began with the #1 male attacking first with a violent stomping and wing beating stunning second before he could recover. Round three and four were much the same as I watched them for an hour before a pair of hunting Northern harriers appeared and the two flew off.

I wondered who had won and if they would change positions on the lek the next day and planned on coming back, but a heavy rainstorm that evening kept me away. The private land owner would not appreciate me making ruts in his field.