Pre-dawn vigil reveals sage grouse mating rituals
12:01 a.m. PT Apr 3, 2008
By Walt Carnahan
Special to The Union
The male sage grouse puff up their chests, strut around, chase away younger males and make loud popping sounds heard for miles - all to advertise themselves to the females as the best choice for a mate.
They perform their mating ritual at dawn in areas of Northern California sagebrush desert known as leks.
It was completely dark when Audubon Club colleagues Jim and Lorraine Groeser and my wife, Barb, and I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed out to the Schafer Lek 26 miles northeast of Susanville on Highway 395. Bundled up in my long johns, seemingly the last pair for sale in Susanville, I wanted to get to the rock blinds overlooking the lek before sunrise so as not to disturb the birds. The temperature was still in the mid-20s.
I left everyone else in the cars about a hundred yards from the lek. Jim set up his spotting scope.
The lek is a clearing of dry grasses in the middle of a rock strewn high with desert sage brush that has endured for at least 10 years and probably much longer. Each year there in March and early April, the sage grouse gather to display, mate and nest mainly within a couple of miles. The sage grouse is the largest of all the North American grouse, with males having a 3-foot wingspread.
During the mating season, the males fight for the central position in the lek, with the older males dominating the prized location and doing most of the mating. The year-old males, after getting pushed out of one lek, will frequently go off and visit another.
The birds were just beginning their display as I crawled into the blind to wait for sunrise and enough light to take pictures.
Setting up my camera, I watched and listened as the males strutted and, throwing back their heads, expanded the skin-covered cavities on their chest to emit the booms that signaled their prowess to the waiting females and competing males.
The sun rose slowly, peeking in and out of some clouds on the horizon. The light gave me plenty of opportunity to watch the 15 male birds, with their conspicuous white ruff. The drab females were less visible.
The confines of the pile of rocks I was using as a blind began to get to me, as my legs started to cramp. Still, there wasn't enough light for good pictures and I had to wait and watch some more.
The females walked undisturbed throughout the lek, sizing up the situation. Then they signaled their availability by squatting, lifting their wings and spreading them on the ground.
After mating, the females went off to make a nest, where they will lay a half-dozen or more eggs and tend to their flock. The males went back to strutting, booming and mating.
Declining habitat, numbers
Sage grouse are found throughout the northern West. Their numbers and habitat have decreased during the past 50 years.
They were listed on the National Audubon Society's Blue List of species undergoing population or range reduction from 1972 to 1981, and they were a species of special concern from 1982 to 1986.
As sagebrush desert has been converted to agriculture and pastureland, habitat shrinkage is considered the leading cause of population loss among the birds.
After a couple of hours of lying out in the desert my ungloved hands were shaking too much to get any more decent pictures. I gave up.
Standing up didn't disturb them, and I got a few shots from a new position. But when I gathered up my equipment and exited the blind, the flock took to the air in a rush of wings.
Walt Carnahan is the past president of the Sierra Foothills Audubon Society.
