Dawn Light On A Male Greater Sage-Grouse
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.
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.
Brown-headed Cowbird breeding activity hasn't slowed down yet high in the Wasatch Mountains if this displaying male is any indication of their mating attempts.
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.
I'm seeing plenty of goldeneyes around right now and I have also begun to see the male Common Goldeneyes performing their courtship displays.
On a hazy, windy day in May of 2008 I was able to sand crawl on my belly close enough to some Black Skimmers to watch and photograph them courting.
When I photographed this male Yellow-headed Blackbird displaying at Bear River MBR it was a beautiful May morning and all the birds there were singing.
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!
Can the disappearance of Sagebrush Seas be stopped? Yes, it could be but we need lawmakers that believe in science and act on it.
I can recall clearly the day I took this photograph of Sandwich Terns mating, I was sitting very low in a tidal lagoon on the north beach of Fort De Soto County Park in Florida, it was very warm and the water of the lagoon felt great on my skin when these two terns started a breeding display.
I had a wonderful photographic opportunity yesterday seeing a Long-billed Curlew mating display on Antelope Island State Park.