Every spring I try to take one person who has never been to a grouse lek out to see the sage grouse strut. This morning I took Haley out to a lek not far from home. We were driving in about 20 minutes before sunrise, rolling through the lek (which is adjacent to a gravel road), admiring the grouse as they went about their business, when suddenly the entire lek erupted, with grouse bombing out in all directions to get away. A magnificent golden eagle had entered the scene, like a cruise missile gliding just a few feet from the ground. The eagle didn't succeed in taking a grouse (although a hen was in grave danger for several seconds). I expected the grouse to quickly return, but when I turned around to look again, the eagle had established a perch, so I knew the grouse would not return.
We drove about 15 minutes to another lek and enjoyed seeing a herd of pronghorn antelope standing atop a nearby hill, also watching the grouse activities below.
1 comment:
wyoming, oh how i miss working there in the summers. n.e. wyoming a little north of newcastle paleo digging crew. the wyomingnites (if that is what they're nomer is?) set us arizona boys straight when we remarked about their weather: if you don't like the weather in wyoming, wait 15 minutes! (true) and the other: wyoming has 2 seasons, winter and the 4th of july! (never been there xcept in the summer, so can't vouch for truth there?!)
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