Tied To Nature

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All of the images I post are original and unedited unless posted otherwise. When I do edit a picture I try to keep edits under 30 seconds and only try to make the image look like what I saw. I hope you enjoy the photos I have taken, and please leave any comments including critiques or corrections. Thanks for visiting.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Sage Grouse Lek 04-13-2011

It started about 6:15 this morning, I was driving along the Red Road past the Saint Anthony Sand Dunes watching for any signs of Sage Grouse. About 2 miles past the turnout for the civil defense caves I spotted a Sage Grouse Cock in the middle of the road strutting his stuff.  I stopped the pickup backed up and sat and waited, pretty soon as the light started to fill the sky they started to gather some flew in by themselves others came in groups.  There were about 15 cocks and 25 hens altogether the cocks put on the show while the hens watched the spectacle. I was not able to stay long enough to watch much, but I did see cocks chase each other and fight back and forth. On the way home I spotted two more leks on the way back both further off the road.

A Lek is a display area a ritual area the breeding grounds.

Sage Grouse Lek

The fighting stance.

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The fight.

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The Strut.

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The Strut.

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1 comment:

  1. Great shots here Adam! Really nice. I've always wanted to see these Grouse in action like this.

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