Male Sharp-tailed Grouse

Early in the spring the male sharp-tailed grouse gather on their breeding ground called a lek and display for the females.

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Male Sharp-tailed Grouse 2

The males point their tails up, spread their wings and stamp their feet making a very unusual sound.

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Male Sharp-tailed Grouse

One of the community dancing grounds is located inland from the North Shore along Forest Road 11. This last week I was able to spend a couple of mornings observing this spring ritual. These two males are performing synchronized dancing.

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Sharp-tailed grouse lek

After five years of watching the sharp-tails it still has not lost any of its excitement. This year was even more special because I got to introduce three young ladies to the fun of early morning sharp-tail watching. We headed out just before 5:00 a.m. to set up our blinds. Here Ruby and her mom, Jenny, watch as the sharp-tails dance within feet of their blind.

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Male Sharp-tailed Grouse displaying

For about 2 hours we watched as the grouse put on quite a show.

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Male Sharp-tailed grouse displaying 2

At one point I thought the grouse were going to come right into the blinds.

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Male Sharp-tailed Grouse Displaying 3

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Male Sharp-tailed Grouse Fighting

They will also fight. First they face off with each other.

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Male Sharped-tailed Grouse Fighting

They will also sometimes give an uppercut trying to show dominance.

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Female Sharp-tailed Grouse

I believe this is the female but they are very hard to tell apart other than the fact that only the males display. One morning Travis Novitsky was with me and took some video. This link will get you to that video.

http://travisnovitsky.smugmug.com/gallery/4207197_KrddQ

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