Today is the last day of the Grouse Lek Extravaganza tour. In six days we’ve traveled more than 1,200 miles in Colorado to see all five dancing birds and, though we saw this one two days ago, I am saving the best dance for last.
When it comes to performances on the lek, Gunnison and greater sage-grouse are stately, dusky grouse are secretive, and prairie chickens are an audio experience. However, everybody’s favorite dance is the one performed by the sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus). See if you don’t agree.
This morning we are up and out very early to see the greater sage-grouse lek, described here with video. Afterward we travel almost 400 miles: visiting sub-alpine habitat, crossing the Continental Divide at Loveland Pass, descending the Front Range to Wray, Colorado near the place where Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas meet.
Tomorrow we’ll see prairie birds in Wray and at Pawnee National Grassland. I can hardly wait to see these Life Birds:
For greater prairie chickens (Tympanuchus cupido) their booming hum is just as important as the dance moves on the lek. Prairie chicken leks can be found from eastern Colorado and Kansas to North Dakota and western Minnesota. We will visit one near Wray. Sparky Stensaas recorded this one in Minnesota.
All longspurs have a long back toe (hallux) or “long spur” that gives them their name. Though lapland and Smith’s longspurs visited the Great Plains over the winter, they have left for their arctic breeding grounds while two other longspur species have stayed to breed.
Thick-billed longspurs (Rhynchophanes mccownii) like short grass prairie and perform their courtship dance above it in the sky.
In its striking aerial display, the male flutters upward to a height of about 10 m (32 ft) and then descends, teetering on outstretched wings held back to display the vivid white lining, with its white-and-black “T”-patterned tail fanned, and issuing a tinkling, warbling song.
The lark bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys) is the State Bird of Colorado and a plentiful sparrow of the Great Plains.
For most of the year male lark buntings match the landscape but in March and April they begin to molt into striking black and white plumage and slowly migrating north. Males arrive a few days before the females; each male establishes a territory in what appears to be a colony, and begins its aerial displays. — paraphrased from Birds of the World: Lark Bunting
The first grouse we’ll see on the Grouse Lek tour is the Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) a target species for many birders because it is listed as Endangered by the IUCN and its declining population contains only 1,770 to 8,000 adult birds. Ironically the species did not “exist” until 1995 when it was split from the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus).
From Colorado Parks and Wildlife[1]: “In the late 1990’s Colorado wildlife researchers found that the sage-grouse in the Gunnison Basin were unique from the sage-grouse found elsewhere. Named for its home range the bird is:
Two thirds (2/3) the size of the greater sage-grouse
Has more distinct white barring on its tail feathers, seen from behind during the strut
A yellow-green fleshy comb above each eye … and …
Long filoplumes that arise from the back of the neck and are tossed up and back during the strut.
It also has a completely separate range from the greater sage-grouse.
This map shows the current and the potential ranges both species might resettle if their numbers grew. “As of 2012 the Gunnison sage-grouse inhabited only 10% of its original range”[1].
Unfortunately the Gunnison sage-grouse is in trouble. It’s only found in seven isolated locations in Colorado and has one tiny population in Utah. Its range keeps shrinking.
In 2013 US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing it as Endangered but feedback from residents, ranchers, local governments, and the oil and gas industry did not want the land use constraints so for now it is listed as Threatened in the U.S.
Today our tour will see the birds from afar at a lek on the crest of a hill. We are privileged to see this endangered dance.
Learn more about the Gunnison sage-grouse in this video from High Country News.
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.
Ecco arrives to incubate before dawn, 12 April 2025 6:43am (photo from the National Aviary snapshot camera at Univ of Pittsburgh)
17 April 2025
This week there is a wide range of activity at our local peregrine nests, from pairs who began incubating just 1-2 weeks ago to our earliest hatch at the Tarentum Bridge. The big event to watch for is Hatch Day at the Cathedral of Learning next week.
Cathedral of Learning, Univ of Pittsburgh:
Ecco and Carla are nearing the end of incubation so one of them is always at the nest 24×7. Lately Ecco has been arriving before dawn for the first nest exchange of the day as shown at top on 12 April and in this morning’s video below.
Notice that Ecco makes soft squeaky noises as he settles over the eggs this morning. It may be because the chicks inside each egg are old enough to hear him and perhaps respond.
Peregrine nest exchange at Sewickley Bridge, 16 April 2025 (photo by Jeff Cieslak) female into nest box (yellow arrow), male leaving
Great news at the Sewickley Bridge! Yesterday Jeff Cieslak confirmed that the pair is incubating when he witnessed a nest exchange and captured photos.
Female perched on exterior light fixture facing in the direction of Shadyside/Oakland. Male visible while shuffling/readjusting egg(s) during incubation.
Tarentum Bridge, Allegheny River:
Tarentum Bridge nestbox (photo by Amber Vanstein)
They’ve hatched! Dave Brooke reports the female was feeding young in the nestbox on 12 April though the chicks were too tiny to see above the edge of the box. Pretty soon there will be good views from these vantage points.
SUMMARY FOR SOUTHWEST PA:
All potential and existing peregrine sites are listed in the table below. News is sketchy to non-existent at most sites. For instance, I checked for incubation Downtown on Tuesday 15 April and saw nothing.
Help fill in the blanks by visiting a site near you. Leave a comment if you find anything!
Gusto flies upside down in courtship with Luna at the Hilliard Bridge, Spring 2025 (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
15 April 2025
Ten days ago in Birds Showing Off I blogged about the courtship flights of four raptor species: western marsh harrier, golden eagle, bald eagle and peregrine falcon and included photos of peregrines flying upside down from C&C’s Ohio Peregrine Page on Facebook by Chad+Chris Saladin.
Peregrine in sustained upside down flight Hilliards Bridge, Ohio, Spring 2025 (photos by Chad+Chris Saladin)
The backstory is awesome, too, quoted from Chris’s post:
We were enthralled and entertained by Gusto and Luna engaging in gravity-defying courtship flights around the Hilliard bridge on a very windy day (30-40 mph winds that would blow our hats off without our hoods up tight over them)! It was tough to stabilize and to hold our cameras still enough to capture it.
We’ve mentioned before that seeing peregrines flying in heavy wind and getting to watch them in the showy courtship mode as they are bonding results in some of the most mind-blowing flight angles and body postures imaginable! And peregrines are amazing enough in flight without the aid of the wind, but when you add in the heavy gusts the speed reaches UNREAL proportions!
They were zipping over and around us, through the bridge arches underneath and then reappearing over our heads with swift ring-ups. They were hanging in the wind nearly motionless, and then with a slight twitch or tuck they would speed by, cutting through the wind, or angling their bodies for a tailwind to push them into overdrive!
You can often see the difference between males and females in flight, with males achieving more adept maneuvers and higher speeds overall. In this case the difference was even more striking, as the experience of maturity showed—although Luna was really moving through the air quickly, it was as if Gusto could fly circles around her!
In this album we’re sharing a sequence of Gusto in flight upside down out over the valley—it was somewhat distant, so we tried not to over-crop this sequence, but we still hope this provides enough detail to show his sustained upside down flight with his head contorted as he was focused on his flight path while flapping and gaining even more momentum! INCREDIBLE!!
When young peregrines fledge from Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning in late May or early June, their parents help them learn to hunt, provide food for a short while, and then “wean” them from the handouts, forcing them to be independent and hunt on their own.
Our youngsters typically leave Pittsburgh in July and never return to the Cathedral of Learning nest. In 20+ years of watching there have been a handful of cameo appearances of a youngster at the nest after it left home. But they don’t stay. They don’t live with their parents.
And if they try to stay they are driven away, as shown in this video from @FaBPeregrines in which the youngster’s father hazes him for 30 minutes. (This video shows 23 minutes of it. Feel free to watch only the beginning.)
Thus I find it quite unusual that a one-year-old immature son — banded ‘GL’ in 2024 — is tolerated at his parents’ nest at Taunton Minster in Taunton, England, UK. The resident male (JN) and female (JY) raised him last spring.
Thanks to two falconcams, Taunton Peregrines was able to discover that GL has probably been present even before the cameras came online in February.
The juvenile male Peregrine’GL’ that fledged here last year may have been around sometime as he pops up on the camera recordings since early Feb when they were switched on. Here he is coming to the breakfast buffet and leaving the Avocet for something else. ?@somersetbirds? pic.twitter.com/FWH6efqNEj
— Taunton Peregrines. (@TauntonPeregri) March 9, 2025
Strangely, when his parents began incubation on 23 March, GL tried to incubate as well. At first he didn’t know what he was doing but soon he got the hang of it and really wanted to incubate.
On 24 March he had a stare-down with his incubating mother (JY) but she didn’t get up. However he is persistent. By 27 March he was incubating regularly and reluctant to let his mother take over. On 28 March he wouldn’t let his father (JN) incubate (video below). Eventually JN gently pushed him off the eggs.
For this morning and the Tiercel (male) Peregrine gently pushes and persuades 'GL' the 2024 fledgling off the eggs. Sound on the 2nd clip with GL making most of the noise. ? pic.twitter.com/ElnKcsvVcT
His father (JN) was getting tired of this and on 4 April zoomed into the nest “scary fast” to urge GL immediately off the eggs. But on 7 April GL tried to push his dad off the eggs.
The resident male Peregrine is starting to show his dominance and did not give way to the juvenile bird this morning when it comes to incubating the ???? pic.twitter.com/Dfx2HEvzJI
— Taunton Peregrines. (@TauntonPeregri) April 7, 2025
What is going on in this unusual peregrine family? What will happen when the eggs hatch?
For many raptors courtship season has given way to incubation but this recent video of a western marsh harrier in England reminds me that fancy flying is an important part of choosing a mate. Here are four species going all out in the air.
Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) Video description: The dizzying “sky-dancing” of a Golden Eagle is a territorial and courtship display. They dive from great heights and can reach nearly 200 miles per hour.
Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) Peregrines often fly upside down when they’re courting, as shown in the top photo by Chad+Chris Saladin and the one below.
Peregrines SW and Boomer in courtship flight, Cleveland, 2013 (photo by Chad+Chris Saladin)
When peregrines are incubating eggs there is rarely any action on the falconcam and it’s always brief, so chances are most of us weren’t watching when Carla and Ecco did this nest exchange yesterday morning. I missed it too, so here it is.
I’ve chosen to highlight this video, not because anything is unusual, but because it’s so nice to watch something other than a sleeping bird.
In fact the segment starts with Ecco sleeping, but he hears something I can’t hear (probably Carla) and raises his head to look around. We know she’s nearby when she wails.
What does she mean? From the Peregrine FAQs: Wailing means “I want something to change.” The wail sounds awful but does not necessarily mean bad things are happening. It really means “Things are not changing fast enough for my liking.” Read more about this call and others at Peregrine Vocalizations and What They Mean.
We can guess what Carla means in this context by watching Ecco. He knows she wants to trade places with him but won’t get up until she’s close by and ready to cover the eggs.
Carla comes closer and makes soft noises. Ecco leaves; Carla settles down to incubate.