20 April 2025: Grouse Lek Extravaganza with She Flew Birding Tours.
Day 2: South and west to Gunnison, birding along the way.

Question of the Day: What is a lek and why do grouse do it?

“A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate.” — Wikipedia definition of Lek Mating

Each species performs its unique song and dance, heavily influenced by female choice. Only the females’ favorite dancers get to mate so those are the traits passed to the next generation.

Let’s take a look at the courtship ritual of the most numerous grouse in the American West, the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). Notice that his “song” is something like “blub… blub blub.” The ladies hear it and come to the lek.

As males and females gather at the lek, the arrangement of individual birds within the arena changes as the strong males challenge and push away the weaker ones. The dominant males end up in the center, weaker ones on the edges (alpha-male is highest ranking, then beta-male, gamma-male, etc).

After the males’ hierarchy is established the females mate with the dominant male(s) in the center. The ladies invite mating by facing away and tenting their wings.

Q: Why a lek?

A: The ladies insist on it.