115: Greater Prairie-chicken
I love when an animal is described as “Greater” in its name – not Great, not Greatest, just… Greater. I know this means “larger” in animal naming conventions but it always leads me to ask… greater than what?
The Greater Prairie-chicken, also known as the pinnated grouse, once lived on vast “booming grounds” – their territorial mating areas – across the eastern two thirds of the United States. Sadly they do not like modern human development. One study in Kansas found that they would not nest within a quarter mile of a power line or a third of a mile from a road. As a result, Euro-American development in the 20th century had a serious impact on their population. The variety that lived on the East Coast is now extinct, and populations elsewhere had precipitous drops. In 1973, only 600 of the birds still lived in their traditional homeland of northeastern Colorado. Through careful management of the land and in partnership with landowners, the state wildlife office has been able to raise their population to a more sustainable level in the sandy, sagebrush-filled area.
Back in Issue #63, we talked about another bird that goes through the mating ritual involving a lek area – a zone in the landscape where males can display their fabulous colors and find mates. For six weeks, the males stake out their territory and defend it from other males. They have large air sacs on either side of their necks which they use to “boom” as they do so. Here’s a pretty good video of this process in action. Lots of paleoartists imagine that dinosaurs may have done similar displays during their mating seasons too, so if it helps you enjoy the video more, you can imagine that. Of the males who come to the lek, only a very few dominant ones will win mates – usually just one or two. The others are there to either learn (because they are young) or just generally be unlucky.
Oh by the way, you can book a tour to see them in their leks through the Wray Chamber of Commerce. But hurry, because only one date is left for 2022 and it is coming up soon!
After mating season is over and chicks have hatched, the babies need to eat around 90% protein, most of it insects. This is why habitat choice is so important for Greater Prairie-chicken parents – the monocrops that often accompany modern agriculture do not provide a diverse enough diet for the chicks, while they thrive in an area with diverse native plants.