For the Greater Good

"Where are you going for spring break?", they asked me. I replied, "Nebraska."  Then there was silence. 

I have always maintained that there is beauty in every place I go. Sometimes I have to look a little harder for it, but it's always there. There was plenty of beauty in Nebraska and it turns out, it was easy to find!

Gordon took us to the place where he grew up, near McCook, NE. Along the way, we stopped and looked at birds and explored new hotspots. 

American Tree Sparrow

Birds take us to places we normally would not visit. And for this trek, we were hoping to witness the beautiful dances of the Greater prairie chicken outside of McCook.  Normally we do a lot of study on our own to find these elusive grouse, but for this particular trek, we took a shortcut and went through the town's organized event. It was actually kind of nice. 

                              This has been an excellent year for Townsend's Solitaires everywhere!

As we meandered through Nebraska looking at birds, we eventually made our way into McCook where there was a prairie chicken tour!  It was nice. No muss and no fuss.  They took us to the Greater prairie chickens with a little introduction the night before and VOILA!  There be prairie chickens! Often times grouse are on private lands and require a lot of paperwork and permissions to see these birds. So it can take months to make these observation windows happen. 

This was a lifebird and it also completed my "grouse-a-year" challenge.  Greater prairie chickens are a near threatened grouse of North America. Conservation continues with these birds to help reverse the declining trend.  The good news is that Nebraska and Kansas have a really strong population.  We wanted to support local efforts to protect these birds. And since Gordon is from the McCook area, it was a no brainer.  We got to meet his family and his wonderful niece Trina who is an up-and-coming birder.

The hardest part of this trek was the freezing cold temps. There we sat in that icy horse trailer at a brisk 17 degrees watching these amazing birds perform on their lek. I had 2 blankets on me and still lost feeling to my fingers and toes!  Thankfully Judith had electronic hand warmers that kept me from freezing.  Every time I had to pick up that camera, I lost the heat in my hands!

I snuck a peek over at the other horse trailer and they looked just as cold as we were. 

                                     Carol Schlegel, director of the tours, is frozen with awe

The show continued around the alpha rooster as other males tried to take him down, but no one could knock him down in status that morning.  You see, in the world of the Greater prairie chicken, the alpha male gets 80 percent of the ladies out there. The strong pass on their genes for successful future generations. You could see other chickens approach him but they'd back off, the minute he showed his yellow air sac.

We'd watch the males raise their pinnae(feathered "horns") and go after one another until one backed down. 

Eventually, they got hungry and flew off.  And it was a good thing as well!  We almost froze to death. I was worried someone would have a bathroom accident or die.  Thankfully no one did, but I did have to pee. I was looking forward to the heat in that van!

Afterwards, we had breakfast in town and it was delicious.  There were a lot of happy faces to celebrate our lifer Greater prairie chicken. Angus Garey, the guy on the left, is the rancher below who helped begin this conservation effort on his ranch years ago with the town of McCook. The local newspaper printed this article about the program. 

I like watching people eat good food. Sehnert's was a highlight of the trip. The coffee was delicious.  The breakfast was hot.  And the donuts were amazing! If you're daring, try the Delaware Donut. 

I ate a lot of wonderfully bad food and now have to shed the weight.  It's funny how the cold will make you eat more!

Nebraska was beautiful and it was fun hanging out with Trina, Judith, and Gordon. For some birds, you have to focus a lot of energy and time into the observation.  Knowing the time of year when a grouse is on a lek is important. For the Greater prairie chicken, they really begin dancing around March and April with their numbers dropping off by May where a tiny few may linger.  Perhaps practicing for next year?
 

 If you're interested in more information, click here.   The world is an amazing place.