Sharp-Tailed Grouse Dance
Nebraska Sandhills near Thedford
This is mating season for the Grouse and they do mating dances which involve calling and very rapid stamping of their feet. The males also try to drive off the others and so there are many face-offs, spreading of wings and jumping in the air.
This is one of the first photos I got from the blind. I was using the fastest longest lens I had. It was really darker outside than this picture suggests. Unfortunately the lens wasn't long enough. This is cropped down quite a bit. The lens I intended to use is almost 7 times longer but 3 full stops slower. So, I used this lens until there was more light. I didn't know what to expect - whether the birds would be close or far or how many there might be. I wasn't prepared for them to be close. It turned out that there were many birds and many came very close. One even landed on top of the blind once.
Watching Sharp-tailed Grouse from a blind requires getting there an hour before sunrise so that you don't frighten them away. Another caveat is that you stay until they leave the lek on their own which basically means staying in the blind about 3 hours. I could hear the grouse before I could see them in the dark. Once I could see them it was still about another half hour before there was enough light to get pictures.
So, the wildlife I went out to the Sandhills to see were Sharp-tailed Grouse. The range of these birds in the continental U.S. is mostly limited to Nebraska, the Dakotas, Montana, and portions of Wyoming and Colorado. I had read about some blinds on the Nebraska National Forest. In this time of Covid-19 it was also an opportunity to practice some social distancing. I called the Forest Service to find out if the place would even be open. They told me that I couldn't use any campground or any facilities anywhere but I was welcome to pull off anywhere else and camp and I could use the blinds - first come first served. Oh, and by the way, I would need a 4wd vehicle to get to the blinds. Ok. No problem. I didn't think the 'first come first served' part was going to be a problem. An ice storm was predicted during the daylight hours that day with overnight temps in the low teens and winds running about 20 mph - so wind chills around zero. I didn't think anyone else would stupid enough to go out there. Turned out I was right about that. It also turned out to be one of the colder nights I've spent in a tent.
Sharp-Tailed Grouse Dance
Nebraska Sandhills near Thedford
This is mating season for the Grouse and they do mating dances which involve calling and very rapid stamping of their feet. The males also try to drive off the others and so there are many face-offs, spreading of wings and jumping in the air.
This is one of the first photos I got from the blind. I was using the fastest longest lens I had. It was really darker outside than this picture suggests. Unfortunately the lens wasn't long enough. This is cropped down quite a bit. The lens I intended to use is almost 7 times longer but 3 full stops slower. So, I used this lens until there was more light. I didn't know what to expect - whether the birds would be close or far or how many there might be. I wasn't prepared for them to be close. It turned out that there were many birds and many came very close. One even landed on top of the blind once.
Watching Sharp-tailed Grouse from a blind requires getting there an hour before sunrise so that you don't frighten them away. Another caveat is that you stay until they leave the lek on their own which basically means staying in the blind about 3 hours. I could hear the grouse before I could see them in the dark. Once I could see them it was still about another half hour before there was enough light to get pictures.
So, the wildlife I went out to the Sandhills to see were Sharp-tailed Grouse. The range of these birds in the continental U.S. is mostly limited to Nebraska, the Dakotas, Montana, and portions of Wyoming and Colorado. I had read about some blinds on the Nebraska National Forest. In this time of Covid-19 it was also an opportunity to practice some social distancing. I called the Forest Service to find out if the place would even be open. They told me that I couldn't use any campground or any facilities anywhere but I was welcome to pull off anywhere else and camp and I could use the blinds - first come first served. Oh, and by the way, I would need a 4wd vehicle to get to the blinds. Ok. No problem. I didn't think the 'first come first served' part was going to be a problem. An ice storm was predicted during the daylight hours that day with overnight temps in the low teens and winds running about 20 mph - so wind chills around zero. I didn't think anyone else would stupid enough to go out there. Turned out I was right about that. It also turned out to be one of the colder nights I've spent in a tent.