Dawn dance: Sharp-tailed grouse’s mating rituals

The rites of spring take many forms, shapes, colors, and patterns, but the end goal is always the same: reproduction. In nature, everything boils down to two basic needs: finding food to survive and mating for reproduction. It’s as simple as that.

This spring, I have been capturing images of several different species of grouse. In my last column, I wrote about the greater prairie chicken, a bird once widespread, numbering in the millions, now barely hanging on and extinct in much of its former range.

This time, I am focusing on the sharp-tailed grouse.

Once again, I found myself getting up at 4 a.m., packing up what I need for the morning, and heading out to my old truck in the dark. A short drive later, I arrived at the location where I would find the second grouse species of the spring. When I opened my truck door, I could immediately hear several male sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) calling in the dark.

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This time, I packed up two long lenses: a 600 mm prime lens and a 100-500 mm zoom lens. With these large and heavy lenses, I definitely needed a tripod to hold them while capturing images and videos. I also grabbed my small, single-person photo blind with a built-in chair. I can set up this blind and be inside in less than one minute, which is crucial for minimizing disturbance to the birds.

After a short walk, I arrived at the location. I needed to assess approximately where the sun would be rising so I could place my chair blind in the best location with the sun at my back. This would provide the best light on the dancing grouse when the sun rose. Working quickly, I set up the chair blind, then the tripod, and mounted the 600 mm lens on the camera.

I covered up and waited in the dark for the birds to arrive and the sun to rise. Within a minute, I could hear and start to see the first of the sharp-tailed grouse walking and flying up to the dancing ground. The dancing ground, also called a lek, is an area of short grass vegetation where two or more males gather to perform a courtship display. This behavior isn’t limited to grouse; many species of birds, insects, and mammals also use leks for mating performances. However, grouse are the most well-known for using a lek.

By the way, the word lek is commonly used in biology. Its origin is believed to come from Swedish (lekstalle). It loosely translates to mating game, frolic, fight or play, and was first used as a noun in 1867. This perfectly describes what is going on at these traditional displaying grounds.

A lek can be used for many years, often decades, but its longevity depends entirely on the vegetation present. When woody shrubs or trees, such as aspen, encroach on a lek, the birds often abandon it for a new lek characterized by short grass only.

On this particular morning, I counted 25 male sharp-tailed grouse that came to display on the lek. The males would pair up and face off. Within the lek, micro territories emerge with the most dominant male at the center and satellite males surrounding him. The least dominant males are positioned on the outer edge of the circle.

The most complex and fascinating aspect of the males’ display is tail rattling, also known as the dancing display. Each male leans forward, lifts a set of feathers on its neck to expose a pinkish to purple patch of skin, and cocks its tail feathers upward, exposing the undertail feathers, called tail coverts, for maximum visibility.

The male then starts a series of rapid, short steps – about 18 to 20 per second – moving forward in a curving or arching direction. At the same time, the male vibrates its tail, producing a clicking or rattling sound accompanied by a scraping noise created by overlapping tail feathers, reminiscent of a baby rattle. The spectacle peaks when all the males perform this stepping and tail rattling simultaneously, creating a scene reminiscent of windup toy birds spinning in circles while the sound mimics a snake pit filled with rattlesnakes.

For the next three hours, I sat in my blind, capturing images and videos of these amazing birds, marveling at the intricacies of their behaviors and capturing the strength and beauty of the sharp-tailed grouse. Until next time …

Editor’s note: Stan Tekiela’s NatureSmart column appears twice a month in the Eden Prairie Local News. Tekiela is an author, naturalist, and wildlife photographer who travels extensively across the United States to study and capture wildlife images.

You can follow his work on Instagram and Facebook. He can be contacted via his website at www.naturesmart.com.