Greater Prairie Chicken

[RyanVZ]

Some of my better pics of a Greater Prairie Chicken in Washington County that is all alone on the lek. So he took out his "frustrations" on the truck and us humans near by. Only 5 feet away from me a lot of the time. What a great experience for my kids and I. Could very likely be one of the last Prairie Chickens in Washington County, OK.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/483481_622213094462763_1398113997_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/165451_622213267796079_2037738787_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/485150_622213287796077_116829241_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/58103_622213311129408_645583840_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/57992_622213337796072_610734969_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/57988_622212577796148_236330382_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/537201_622212591129480_1461874204_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/534347_622212784462794_2078538692_n.jpg

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/164944_622212907796115_1898341686_n.jpg

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/554245_622212944462778_1706870917_n.jpg

[Bird_Dog]

Awesome pictures! Hope a hen shows up.

-- Scott

[Dakota]

Nice!

[sharptail]

Great pics, thank you!

[Dirthawking]

That is awesome!

[PeteJ]

The one with the pump jack in the background is classic as it represents what WAS (the Prairie Chicken) and what IS (one of the most commonly certified issues of why the Prairie Chicken is in decline....the popping of the pump jack disrupted normal lek attractions).

[raptrlvr]

Nice shots and a great experience for you and your kids. I have been to the Lesser Prairie Chicken festival here in New Mexico a couple of time and was able to get some good shots of the displaying by the males. They really do battle and slam each other pulling feathers and tumbling around. Pretty cool to see. I'll post a couple if you don't mind.

[RyanVZ]

Go right ahead Jim. I've got a bunch of Lesser pics and videos as well. The organization I work for has done research on them for 10+ years now in western Oklahoma, as well as, Greaters in the past. We also did research in New Mexico for a number of years too.

This particular male showed up at this site in eastern Oklahoma where no lek has been in at least 20 years if ever. The landscape for miles around is grazed to the nubs and the closest known lek is more than 15 miles away. I actually think that the pump jack is what attracted him. Notice the orange horse head in the picture? I think that it pumping up and down attracted him to it being that there are no other active leks for miles and miles around. The other horse head pump jacks in the area are black or green or rusty. This is the only orange one I've seen. The closer you get to the pump the more animated the chicken got. There is documentation of P Chickens acting like imprinted birds on other locations where only one bird shows up at a lek. All those hormones and no "outlet" for that sexual frustration causes unnatural behaviors.

[Tanner]

My god thats sad. Incredible and powerful photos, especially the pumpjack photo.

[Pedioecetes]

Twenty years ago Dale Guthormsen and I made several trips a year to southeastern Alberta to hawk Sage grouse. The fifth year of going there was the last year before the season closed. We saw the decline first hand in that time frame. Gerald Geiger from Havre, Montana would often join us, though without falcon. Every year we found more pumper jacks and they were all built on Sage grouse leks, the only open areas in the sea of sage. On top of that every year in the western part of the Sage grouse range there we found more sage prairie plowed up and put into wheat fields. Having Gerald along added interesting content to our findings because there was almost no sage habitat in that part of Montana south of the Alberta stuff we were in that had any sage left and there were no Sage grouse there at all for a long ways south of the 49th. The Sage grouse of Canada were living on a quickly shrinking island.

Now, the Sage grouse in Alberta, and Saskatchewan, are just about gone. There isn't enough habitat to support them and there are only a few places along the 49th in Sage grouse country in Montana where there is any suitable
habitat either. That's a real shame. I lived and hawked for a large part of my adult life within spitting distance of Montana north east of Glasgow. I knew lots of seniors from that area on both sides of the border who told me their dad's fed them Sage grouse regularly in the fall and winter as they were growing up and they were everywhere at that time. The real beginning of the change began after WW2. Spraying and the plow. There were Greater Prairie Chickens up till then too. Now its energy development.

Sad commentary to the ignorance and apathy our society really shows to things that don't actually affect them.

Nice photos Ryan. I bet your kids had a blast.

[Lowachi]

very nice pics Ryan. I'm sure the kids will remember this for a long time.

[raptrlvr]

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z74/raptrlvr/20110418_3558A.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z74/raptrlvr/20110418_3492A.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z74/raptrlvr/20110418_3474A.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z74/raptrlvr/20110418_3437A.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z74/raptrlvr/DSC_1289A-1.jpg

[raptrlvr]

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z74/raptrlvr/DSC_1275A-2.jpg

[raptrlvr]

The pictures I posted are of the Lesser Prairie Chicken and were taken just below Portalis, NM in an area named Milnasand. Even though the numbers are dwindling to the point of putting these birds on the endangered species list, the state of New Mexico continues to lease out the land { where the leks are located} for oil drilling. According to what we were told, the birds will not breed where there are structures {oil rigs and storage tanks} because the structures provide perches for birds of prey. The mortality rate in most years is greater than 50% for these birds.

[passagejack]

Great pics guys! How frickin sad!!!!!!!!!! The pic with the pumper jack as well as Jims pics would make for a powerful ad to show the negative impact we cause in the name of oil!
Its to bad we as a group were not more infuential when it comes to lobbying for change in the way we harvest energy. Hearing these stories and seeing these pics makes me want to ride my bike more!

[Hughmetcalfe]

I did some work for Texas Tech with Lesser Prairie-Chickens around the TX panhandle and into OK. Definitely not that many left in those areas.

[Bird_Dog]

I had the privileged to hunt lesser prairie chicken in Texas before the season closed for good. Conversations with many local landowners indicated that if the government were to place the LPC on the threaten/endangered list they would extirpate every chicken in the area to keep the government off their property. This is exactly the same view I encountered while hunting LPC in western Kansas on Spring Break. The Wildlife biologists know this will happen. It's very sad in my opinion.

-- Scott

[PeteJ]

I had the privileged to hunt lesser prairie chicken in Texas before the season closed for good. Conversations with many local landowners indicated that if the government were to place the LPC on the threaten/endangered list they would extirpate every chicken in the area to keep the government off their property. This is exactly the same view I encountered while hunting LPC in western Kansas on Spring Break. The Wildlife biologists know this will happen. It's very sad in my opinion.

-- Scott
That's so sad that its actually disturbingly sick! How dare they? Those birds don't belong to them they belong to everyone. I would say its time to cut some farm/ranch subsidies...til they say Uncle SAM!

[Pedioecetes]

Pete, as a falconer and self-taught lifelong observer and lover of the natural world as it should be, it is hard for me to understand a lot of things that mess up the way it should be. As a farmer, though, I understand the entire resentment issue by landowners towards the government trying to tell them what they can and can't do on their own land.

Endangered/threatened species seem to empower some gov. agencies and individuals beyond the scope of their mandates. It would be sorta like the government trying to tell falconers what they can and can't do with the birds they own!

Oh wait a minute, that has actually happened somewhere, I think.

I'm guessing there are plenty of private landowners that steward their land well for themselves and the benefit of the wildlife that lives on it. Those that do so and have endangered/threatened wildlife living on their land are obviously doing something right, for which they get little recognition. Lots of things are done that are not right by any number of parties, just a fact of human nature.

I'm assuming you made this statement at least somewhat tongue in cheek.

[dliepe]

Pete, as a falconer and self-taught lifelong observer and lover of the natural world as it should be, it is hard for me to understand a lot of things that mess up the way it should be. As a farmer, though, I understand the entire resentment issue by landowners towards the government trying to tell them what they can and can't do on their own land.

Endangered/threatened species seem to empower some gov. agencies and individuals beyond the scope of their mandates. It would be sorta like the government trying to tell falconers what they can and can't do with the birds they own!

Oh wait a minute, that has actually happened somewhere, I think.

I'm guessing there are plenty of private landowners that steward their land well for themselves and the benefit of the wildlife that lives on it. Those that do so and have endangered/threatened wildlife living on their land are obviously doing something right, for which they get little recognition. Lots of things are done that are not right by any number of parties, just a fact of human nature.

I'm assuming you made this statement at least somewhat tongue in cheek.
To make an enemy of the landowners spells doom for chickens in areas without large expanses of public grasslands. I hope if they do list that they have figured out a way to do it in such a way that gives the landowners a personal stake in the survival of the species. The Greater is in good hands with the people of Nebraska. The Family unit is alive and well in Nebraska and the strong moral fiber that goes with it. There is a great respect for the land and its wildlife from what I can gather. You would never hear the type of harsh rhetoric that Bird Dog speaks of up there.

[PeteJ]

Pete, as a falconer and self-taught lifelong observer and lover of the natural world as it should be, it is hard for me to understand a lot of things that mess up the way it should be. As a farmer, though, I understand the entire resentment issue by landowners towards the government trying to tell them what they can and can't do on their own land.

Endangered/threatened species seem to empower some gov. agencies and individuals beyond the scope of their mandates. It would be sorta like the government trying to tell falconers what they can and can't do with the birds they own!

Oh wait a minute, that has actually happened somewhere, I think.

I'm guessing there are plenty of private landowners that steward their land well for themselves and the benefit of the wildlife that lives on it. Those that do so and have endangered/threatened wildlife living on their land are obviously doing something right, for which they get little recognition. Lots of things are done that are not right by any number of parties, just a fact of human nature.

I'm assuming you made this statement at least somewhat tongue in cheek.
A little tongue in cheek. But there is one huge reason that I moved away from ag based land of the midwest...I got tired of begging farmer to let me go on their snow covered plowed from ditch to ditch land to hunt a covey of huns. I can safely say that since 1986 I have never had to ask permission ever again. So now I don't have to feel like they made me feel...

[sharptail]

A little tongue in cheek. But there is one huge reason that I moved away from ag based land of the midwest...I got tired of begging farmer to let me go on their snow covered plowed from ditch to ditch land to hunt a covey of huns. I can safely say that since 1986 I have never had to ask permission ever again. So now I don't have to feel like they made me feel...

I am hearing you loud and clear Pete. I have felt the 'landowner blues' more that I can say. The problem is that I am addicted to hawking the grouse that live on private ground. I had long thought that by now I would have moved south and switched gears to small or micro falcons but 'the pull' is strong and there are still flyable grouse situations.

Huns have always been in short supply in the 20 years that I have lived here but we did put one in the bag this past season. What a delightful game bird they are!

[Montucky]

Pete, as a falconer and self-taught lifelong observer and lover of the natural world as it should be, it is hard for me to understand a lot of things that mess up the way it should be. As a farmer, though, I understand the entire resentment issue by landowners towards the government trying to tell them what they can and can't do on their own land.

Endangered/threatened species seem to empower some gov. agencies and individuals beyond the scope of their mandates. It would be sorta like the government trying to tell falconers what they can and can't do with the birds they own!

Oh wait a minute, that has actually happened somewhere, I think.

I'm guessing there are plenty of private landowners that steward their land well for themselves and the benefit of the wildlife that lives on it. Those that do so and have endangered/threatened wildlife living on their land are obviously doing something right, for which they get little recognition. Lots of things are done that are not right by any number of parties, just a fact of human nature.

I'm assuming you made this statement at least somewhat tongue in cheek.

Our Farm Bill, the price of corn and wheat and the economics of farm commodities mean that in order to break even or make money farmers need to get bigger and farm more efficiently. farmers like the rest of us wll except government programs that produce money in their pocket, but will turn around and talk about the big bad federal government and "them environmentalists".

I appreciate the role of private landowners and farmers as much as any sportsman..believe me...but the bottom line is that private land across north america is land that historically supports more wildlife and has a higher wildlife habitat value. And this is where the most extreme losses have occurred to sage grouse, sharp-tail, and prairie chickens. Major range contractions have occurred primarily in regions where it is mostly private, arable land, and native habitat was completely converted to cultivation. The only solution is to put restrictions on what farmers can and can't do in terms of critical habitat...or try and build cooperation...i.e. the Sage Grouse Initiative.

Our wildlife agencies are hardly the enemy and I have little sympathy for that sentiment from farmers. Having worked extensively throughout private land areas in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah, I can say that few modern farms practice good wildlife/habitat stewardship and what little is there is usually in the form of CRP or post-dustbowl era shelterbelts - another gov't idea. Maybe living in the thick of s healthy great plains sharp-tail population can cloud the conservation issue. Living in a county or state where a game bird is more or less totally extirpated changes one's perspective. ;)

Here are range maps of the Greater Sage Grouse and the Columbian Sharp-tail. In both cases the major range contractions overlap mostly private land areas where native habitat was converted.

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff375/goshawk2/CSTGR_RANGE_zpsba04072f.jpg
http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff375/goshawk2/GSGRRANGE_zpsea80e0be.png

[RyanVZ]

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/306062_623186711032068_1965252843_n.jpg

[Bird_Dog]

Hey Ryan,

If the LPCs are put on the threatened list, how do you think they will managed in areas where they overlap with the greater prairie chicken? I mean in terms of hunting regulations, that is.

-- Scott

[mainefalconer]

The one with the pump jack in the background is classic as it represents what WAS (the Prairie Chicken) and what IS (one of the most commonly certified issues of why the Prairie Chicken is in decline....the popping of the pump jack disrupted normal lek attractions).


PRECISELY what I was thinking Pete!

[Dirthawking]

The one with the pump jack in the background is classic as it represents what WAS (the Prairie Chicken) and what IS (one of the most commonly certified issues of why the Prairie Chicken is in decline....the popping of the pump jack disrupted normal lek attractions).


Wow, and all the guys I meet at these education events always seem to blame those bad chicken hawks for killing them all. That and all the quail and pheasant too!

[RyanVZ]

Hey Ryan,

If the LPCs are put on the threatened list, how do you think they will managed in areas where they overlap with the greater prairie chicken? I mean in terms of hunting regulations, that is.

-- Scott

Scott I assume you are talking Kansas being that they only overlap there now. I think they'll have a season but it will only be east/north of some set highways or something like that. That would be be my best guess anyhow.



Wow, and all the guys I meet at these education events always seem to blame those bad chicken hawks for killing them all. That and all the quail and pheasant too!

Ya quail and grouse did so terrible living with hawks around for thousands of years before humans showed up. Makes perfect sense. Crazy logic to me. Also pheasants are an introduced non-native species. There are records of them showing up on grouse leks and disrupting breeding efforts. Easier to shoot a pheasant than a prairie chicken I guess so let's save the game bird starling....

[passagejack]

John (Montucky) brings up some good points. Having lived and hawked in most of the western states and now Alberta, I have mostly seen farmimg practices that are devistating to upland game. Thats not to say that their are no farmers practicing good land management, its saying that most that I have seen do not. Like most industries the dollar wins! Wheat farmers are notorious for leaving nothing, just wall to wall wheat. The Palouse region of Eastern Washington is brutal for this. If it were not for the cover in the farm yards there would be nothing but Horned Larks living their. The practice their is to burn the cattails and ditches in the spring. Its the only nesting habitat left for nesting. Seems like it would be a small comprimise to leave a little cover???
Most cattle ranchers I have seen in Idaho, Washington over graze and do not rotate their cattle nearly enough, Central Montana being the worst! Harlowton and areas south of Lewistown look like the moon mid winter. Some areas around Havre are not much better IMO. I was married too a Range Ecologist. She would would just smile in disgust when we would take trips to Montana. The insight she gave on proper land management left one wondering why its not more common?
I have however seen some ranchers take great pride in their land use practices. One in particular stands out. He ranches in Eastern Nevada. He has been taking a very proactive role in keeping Sage Grouse on his land. He has done everything nessasary to keep his and his cattles footprint small. He explained that healthy range equaled healthy grouse and healthy cattle.

[JRedig]

John (Montucky) brings up some good points. Having lived and hawked in most of the western states and now Alberta, I have mostly seen farmimg practices that are devistating to upland game. Thats not to say that their are no farmers practicing good land management, its saying that most that I have seen do not. Like most industries the dollar wins!

This was precisely my observation of Kearney after not having been there in a decade. Everything is farmed RIGHT UP TO THE DITCH. There aren't corners left for cover etc etc. Sure there's lots of game there etc, but it is by no means the same area I remember growing up. Much tougher than past years, i was very surprised at what I saw driving around there.

I want to see all government subsidies cut to zero on wind energy, ethanol production etc. Then lets see how the game is really played on an open and fair market...the way things are done today is pure rubbish, how it is sustainable, i'll never know.

[sharptail]

A couple of Ranchers in my area have told me that they are not at all concerned about preserving Wildlive on there land, only Cattle production. Both have leased Hunting Rights to Outfitters.

[NMHighPlains]

I want to see all government subsidies cut to zero on wind energy, ethanol production etc. Then lets see how the game is really played on an open and fair market...the way things are done today is pure rubbish, how it is sustainable, i'll never know.

Will the same hold true for biologists and etc who draw their salaries from the public coffer?

I suppose one could argue that government biologists/land managers are being paid to protect public interests, but the opposing argument could be "who is the public?" In other words, if we voted on whether or not to fund government biologists, would there be a majority support? Or will there be- just like in the oil/gas, agriculture arenas- special interest groups screaming that their interests deserve protection?

IMHO- after having worked as a biologist for BLM, USFWS, USFS, Boise State University, and New Mexico State University- the salary I was paid was every bit as much of a subsidy as anything paid farmers. The only thing I produced in exchange for taxpayer money was data- nothing that anyone could eat or use to power their homes. In fact most of the data was used to prevent human use of resources.

Then what about broader context subsidies such as health care, roads, and etc? What brush are they painted with? If you're going to put some subsidies on the open and fair market, shouldn't you put them ALL on the open and fair market?

I'm just curious as to what things would look like if YOU, dear NAFEX Reader, were Czar of The United States.

[grimmy440]

That's so sad that its actually disturbingly sick! How dare they? Those birds don't belong to them they belong to everyone. I would say its time to cut some farm/ranch subsidies...til they say Uncle SAM!

I don't think a blanket cut is the way to go. The vast majority of my area is reliant on agriculture. I'll agree that there are some who need to take better care of the habitat on their property, but cutting funding to people just trying to make a living isn't going to help. It's going to make a lot of people bitter and angry. I'll also agree that the attitudes of those who would rather kill a population than deal with gov. Regs need adjustment, but again, cutting out the subsidies isn't going to help. It would mean each farmer would have to put in more acres to make the same money. More acres in production = less natural habitat available.

[Steve L.]

I'm hesitant to post a reply to this thread for two reasons:

1. My comments are on farm subsidies which seems largely unrelated to the topic or intent of this post.
2. Farm Subsidies is a political topic which I believe is frowned upon on this forum.

If there is interest in continuing the discussion of farm subsidies perhaps a separate thread should be started unless the original poster doesn't mind it staying here and the moderators don't mind a political topic being discussed.

[RyanVZ]

Just one thing cant be blamed for the disappearance of prairie grouse. Barbwire fences and powerlines kill tons of Lesser Prairie Chickens, also prairie grouse avoid vertical structures and that fragments their habitat, it is much hotter in the summers and now there are studies that show heat stress on quail will shut off their reproduction hormone production, etc etc. Basically there are just too many people nowadays and we just consume consume consume. Eventually we'll just have these pretty pictures. At least these pics are in color, I've never seen a color pic of living Heath Hen......

[raptrlvr]

The birds are disappearing, but, we will enjoy the pictures. They are no longer allowed to be hunted in NM, but, the state still sells oil drilling leases to companies that come into the leks where the birds are breeding. Its sad to see your one male strutting, but, no female showing up to breed. I have really been lucky to see this ritual 3 times here in NM.

[Bird_Dog]

Punishment doesn't change behavior as well as reinforcement. Continue subsidies, but modify them to protect habitat. I'm assuming that subsides promote crop production; however as a society we can change the criteria from maximizing crop production to a optimization of several valued things (crops and wildlife/habitat) together. We can do better than to give up on grouse. A interesting book that shows the folly of conservation is a book by Cokinos titled Hope is the thing with Feathers. http://www.amazon.com/Hope-Thing-Feathers-Personal-Chronicle/dp/1585427225 Look for peoples' incentive to motivate and convince them. Grouse aren't popular with most hunters. Create a subside that saves the pheasant or quail. This may help the prairie chicken. Don't close the season to hunters. Very few are hunted. No one will care about them if they are off limits. Hell I saw more prairie chicken than pheasant on my last hawking trip. Address the factors (e.g., habitat) that are relevant, not the easy one (i.e., hunting).

-- Scott

[echotadog]

late Last September I was up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in SD visiting family and I had the opportunity to drive through the Badlands on my way to Rapid City and Back to the REZ on many days.
I make a trip up every year during the summer but have never seen this bird before my Fall trip and I saw dozens of them while I was there . Some in Allen SD some near Kyle SD on family land , on the Road to Yellow Bear Dam .
this unfortunate one was clipped by an RV just in front of me as we were passing by Sheeps Mountain in the National Grasslands , not far from Scenic SD. SO here they are and I want to know exactly what they are... a few folks up there said Prairie Chicken some said Grouse. In my ignorance of the difference in the two I figured I'd rely on the skills of NAFEX longwingers to get my answer .... I figured this would be an easy one for the followers of this thread , I was amazed by its ruffed legs and crazy sharp talons.

thanks in advance,

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j466/echotadog/696c09c7-fdcd-4e48-bfa5-f0cb2f5ec2eb_zps01026cc8.jpg (http://s1087.photobucket.com/user/echotadog/media/696c09c7-fdcd-4e48-bfa5-f0cb2f5ec2eb_zps01026cc8.jpg.html)

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j466/echotadog/1e2bbaf5-0809-49b6-bf6b-9ed9ba209dc0_zpsdda1481f.jpg (http://s1087.photobucket.com/user/echotadog/media/1e2bbaf5-0809-49b6-bf6b-9ed9ba209dc0_zpsdda1481f.jpg.html)

http://i1087.photobucket.com/albums/j466/echotadog/a4d97fae-3284-4f9d-874a-63257b88638b_zps1feb1b1c.jpg (http://s1087.photobucket.com/user/echotadog/media/a4d97fae-3284-4f9d-874a-63257b88638b_zps1feb1b1c.jpg.html)

[PeteJ]

Sharp-tailed Grouse would be my guess. Prairie Chickens are barred particularly on the breast plumage. Can't see the breast on this one really, but the back doesn't look barred in the same way. Plus the tail looks sharp, although not exactly a great angle on the tail.
I've been in that area, I could see Sharp-tails being there from my recollection from about 30 years ago.

[falcon56]

Definitly a sharp tail

[Bird_Dog]

I met an award winning conservation writer name Rick Bass this week. I was able to discuss some of the issues related to lesser prairie chicken and Attwaters in Texas. My hope is that he'll become involved and write an article about them. He's published a lot of short stories on hunting upland game birds is some of the pointing dog magazines. I now have his contact information and I want to put together a dossier for him with some good info and names. He has gone flying with Jim Weaver in the past. Any suggestions the falconry community would be appreciated

-- Scott

[sharptail]

I met an award winning conservation writer name Rick Bass this week. I was able to discuss some of the issues related to lesser prairie chicken and Attwaters in Texas. My hope is that he'll become involved and write an article about them. He's published a lot of short stories on hunting upland game birds is some of the pointing dog magazines. I now have his contact information and I want to put together a dossier for him with some good info and names. He has gone flying with Jim Weaver in the past. Any suggestions the falconry community would be appreciated

-- ScottAnyone have Steve Herman's contact info?