Friday, April 16, 2010

Colorado Sage Grouse


My apologies, I lied to you in my last post. I said that my next stop was going to be the Grand Tetons, but ended up in north central Colorado photographing Sage Grouse. I spoke with some Fish & Game/USFS folks after leaving Will's and found out that the Sage Grouse were also appearing on leks or booming grounds. What an awesome sight. The guys blow up these amazingly large esophageal sacks and sound like a rock dropped into a well, all in a effort to attract a female.


The girls seemed interested. I saw as many a 22 males and 17 females on the lek. Although is was 18 degrees, it didn't seem to bother their activities.

A quick trip through the Tetons, which was slow, so arrived in Yellowstone today. Be here for a couple days before leaving the lower 48 and headed north in Alberta.

My apologies to all for not blogging back. Up early and in bed late after photographing so have limited time online.

Blue Skies.

6 comments:

Atanasio Fernández García said...

How wonderful! The wedding party of these birds is amazing! Congratulations, the pictures are, once again, sensational!

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

I guess that is where the expression "strutting your stuff" comes from. LOL!!

Elaine said...

That's the beauty of a roadtrip--you can change your destinations depending on what's going on, or just on a whim. I think you made a good decision here. You got some supurb photos.

We got snowed out of Yellowstone when we were there in October so I'll look forward to seeing your shots.

Montanagirl said...

Beautiful! I witnessed the Sagegrouse several years ago. Was able to get quite close. Hmmmm....I'll have to find the disk I put my photos on and post some one of these days.

Coy Hill said...

Amazing photos Ken. Take care and have a safe trip. This is awesome that you get to do this adventure over again this year.

Misty DawnS said...

WOW! That is one of the coolest things I have ever seen! Outstanding photographs, as always.