April 13 - Lesser Prairie Chickens!

It was 42º and overcast with a light northerly breeze, when I got up at 3 a.m.  I got ready for the day, then went down to catch the van only to find that it was not there.  I checked the message board to find that they’d changed the muster time from 4 a.m. to 5!!  I couldn’t get back to sleep so stayed up to meet the 2 van loads of birders and travel out to the Laverne area, where we pulled the vans alongside the road and waited for dawn.

As the sky was lightening, we heard the ‘bubble’ vocalization of the Lesser Prairie Chickens in the morning twilight.  This is the bird I came to Oklahoma to see and hear!

Tight viewing; only one tinted window opened to accommodate the photographers

Then, as the day dawned, we saw the dance of these amazing birds.

We were treated to the sight of 8 cocks attempting to impress a single hen.  The lek was about 125 yards off the road in a disked field with clods and stubble, so it was difficult to tell the birds from the soil and vegetation until the light improved our vision.

ABA Area Life Bird No. 598!

It is said that the Prairie tribes had dances patterned after the dance of the Prairie Chickens.

Shannon Thunderbird photo

We watched their dancing and heard their calls for about 2 hours.

Male Lesser Prairie Chickens have reddish-orange neck sacs

The hen doesn't seem all that impressed with the Fancy Dancer . . .

At one point, a female Northern Harrier swooped over the lek and flushed all the birds.  However, the chickens returned after the hawk left.

In 2017, the breeding population of the Lesser Prairie Chicken, whose habitat spans the Texas Panhandle and parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado, numbered 29,934, according to the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. The 2018 survey showed there were 38,637 of the birds, or 8,703 more, marking the sixth year of population growth, the association noted in a news release.  But, advocates pointed out that the number is a far cry from the 10-year average population recovery goal of some 67,000.

We left around 9 a.m. for the Selman Ranch, where the Festival folks had breakfast waiting for us.  En route, we stopped at a prairie dog town to look for Burrowing Owls, and found one bird that, as soon as it saw us, popped down into its burrow.

Prairie Dog Town - the Burrowing Owl can't be seen here . . .

It was difficult for some folks to see, but the owl would stick its head above to see if we were still there.  After a bit, we got all of the birders a view through the scopes.

We started again for the ranch, only to slow down to give the birders a view of Yellow-headed Blackbirds in a paddock full of Angus steers.  These were "life birds" for some of the participants.  Finally, we arrived at the Selman Ranch, which is a few miles south of the Cimarron River, and were treated to a fine repast by our gracious hostess and the Audubon volunteers.  While there, we enjoyed the birds coming to the feeders and grounds.

Young Birder Sienna Leach getting digital!

The future of Birding is in good hands

After brunch, we participants were (optionally) expected to spend about an hour or two working to save Lesser Prairie-Chickens by helping to mark fences at the Selman Ranch.  However, the weather forecast had been for rain, so they didn’t have the markers for our group.  Marking fences so that the birds can see there is a fence is a very simple procedure to help decrease collisions with barbed wire, which is a significant cause of chicken mortality.

Josh Smith showing us the technique

It takes so little effort to benefit an endangered species

The Sutton Avian Research Center has worked out a technique of using vinyl siding starter strips cut into 2-inch pieces.  These easily snap onto the barbed wire, making the fence visible to the chickens.  Fences marked in this manner dramatically reduce chicken mortality.

We were back at the Northwest Inn around 3:30 p.m., and at 5:30 gathered for the banquet and were treated to the Keynote speaker, Kenn Kaufman.  Kenn gave a great talk and PowerPoint talk on birding, but the neatest thing was that he was there with his childhood friend Jeff Cox, who is active in Tulsa Audubon.

Photo by Chris Cox shamelessly stolen from the Tulsa World

I am not posting the Laverne area eBird Checklist, as the Lesser Prairie Chicken is a “Sensitive Species”.  eBird suppresses the sightings, and the Festival organizers requested that the participants on the field trip not pinpoint the site, to avoid unnecessary disturbance to these remarkable birds.
Rosston Area Prairie Dog Town eBird Checklist is Here

Rosston Area cattle feeding area eBird Checklist is Here
Selman Ranch (private) eBird Checklist is Here