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Greater Sage-Grouse
Centrocercus urophasianus
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Slide show of pictures here (recommended).
Back from an AMAZING trip to the high sage desert in north-east California. After much searching, and much adventure, my birding buddy Tom Grey and I found the sage grouse lek and witnessed one of the greatest spectacles of my life.
Tom and I had located a rock wall the afternoon before that we could use as a blind. Using my iPhone's GPS (having cached the coordinates), we carefully and quietly walked the sage desert in the dark. We set up our bag-blinds behind the wall, sat on rocks, numbed our nethers in the 30° cold, and waited. To avoid disturbance of this very unique and special place, we had to hide at quite a distance from the ceremonies. No flash, no light, and far views made shooting a challenge.
At dawn we started to hear sounds like popcorn. First one pop, then another, then more... Interspersed between the calls were Horned Larks twittering, and then at daybreak - the calls of the Meadowlarks. Once we could actually see the grouse - we witnessed their amazing male displays - inflating their air sacs, popping and pushing their chests about in the most male fashion possible. The funniest, and most fascinating behaviour, was when two grouse stood off - one male trying to dominate the other.
When daybreak was over, the grouse were done - they migrated to even more remote places.
A dream come true. Nature can be incredible.
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Focal length: 700 mm
fStop: 5.6
ISO: 1600
Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec.
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Viewland, CA - Sage Grouse Lek
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Mar 24, 2010
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