2305_0791 Fighting Sharptails
The Sharp-tailed Grouse are very active on their lek, or dancing ground, this month, as they try to impress the watching females with their male prowess. So... they dance, they make themselves big, they rush about, strut, hoot, chirp, and leap into the air in a flurry of wingbeats, talons ready to slash at their rival if they see an opening. It's very intense. By the end of mating season many of them are bloodied and bruised, and missing feathers. Grouse wars are serious business!
Morning light, shot from the rolling red Toyota blind parked at the edge of the lek.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2023 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
2305_0791 Fighting Sharptails
The Sharp-tailed Grouse are very active on their lek, or dancing ground, this month, as they try to impress the watching females with their male prowess. So... they dance, they make themselves big, they rush about, strut, hoot, chirp, and leap into the air in a flurry of wingbeats, talons ready to slash at their rival if they see an opening. It's very intense. By the end of mating season many of them are bloodied and bruised, and missing feathers. Grouse wars are serious business!
Morning light, shot from the rolling red Toyota blind parked at the edge of the lek.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2023 James R. Page - all rights reserved.