Greater Sage-Grouse are large, chubby birds with long tails, small heads and mottled gray-brown plumage.
If I could, I would wish that everyone, at least once in their lifetime, could visit a Greater Sage-Grouse lek while these fascinating birds are displaying.
During the breeding season, male Greater Sage-Grouse gather in communal display areas known as leks to perform an elaborate courtship ritual.
Finding Greater Sage-Grouse away from their leks isn't easy. It takes sharp eyes, keen observation skills, plus knowing what to look for.
I found these two foraging Greater Sage-Grouse high up on the Aquarius Plateau in Wayne County, Utah five years ago today.
March is a time when my mind wanders to windswept, high country sagebrush steppes where Greater-Sage Grouse will dance, fight and court on their leks as they have done for eons.
It was 21 degrees and even though my hands became numb because of the biting cold I kept taking image after image of these Greater Sage-Grouse performing their ancient mating ritual, I started well before dawn and didn't stop until the last grouse left the lek.
Each year across the western states Greater Sage-Grouse begin to fly into leks on the sagebrush steppe during late winter and early spring to perform their fascinating courtship displays well before the first sign of dawn.
One might ask what do Greater Sage-Grouse have to do with our public lands and the answer would be that more than half of all remaining habit for these large upland game birds is on our public lands in the Western U.S..
I'm dreaming of seeing Greater Sage-Grouse, Sandhill Cranes and White-tailed Prairie Dogs as spring warms up the sagebrush steppe.
It was 21°F one frigid morning on a Greater Sage-Grouse Lek and before dawn broke the grouse began to display on the high country sagebrush steppe in Wayne County, Utah.
These four birds, an American Oystercatcher, a Greater Sage-Grouse, a Reddish Egret and a Mountain Plover are all facing the risk of extinction without serious conservation measures to reduce declines in populations and habitat destruction.
A short trip to look for Greater Sage-Grouse, White-tailed Prairie Dogs and the other birds and animals that call the sagebrush steppe their home.
The recent decision to not list Greater Sage-Grouse under the Endangered Species Act is seen by some as a "good thing" and by others a "bad thing". So, perhaps we can be more productive if we start saving the Greater Sage-Grouse one lek at a time.
Since the snow has started to fall in the high country of Utah I have started thinking about Greater Sage-Grouse again.
It hasn't been a very birdy trip so far but I did photograph a pair of Greater Sage-Grouse yesterday morning that were close enough to take images of.
Two months ago today I was photographing on a Greater Sage-Grouse lek in 21°F weather in Wayne County, Utah.
The two second Greater Sage-Grouse skirmish was over but only for a few seconds before these two males started back up again.
I will share more Greater Sage-Grouse images from this lek soon but as usual I came home from this trip exhausted and it will take me a few days to get through all the images I took.
I was stunned and amazed to find not just one Greater Sage-Grouse leks but TWO!
Greater Sage-Grouse and White-tailed Prairie Dogs
I was going back through some of the images I took this past summer and came across this photo of a Greater Sage-Grouse I photographed in July.
If hope is the thing with feathers then I want to heap as much hope as I can find into the future of Greater Sage-Grouse.
Greater Sage-Grouse should already be on the endangered species list but they aren't.
I saw and photographed my first Greater Sage-Grouse this summer in Beaverhead County, Montana while traveling through the Centennial Valley. Yay! Lifer!
I photographed this female Greater Sage-Grouse while up in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.