Colorado “Chicken Odyssey” – Lesser Prairie-Chicken

Heading east we crossed the state line into Kansas and drove through the Cimarron Grasslands straight to Elkhart. We are in Kansas because Lesser Prairie-Chickens have drastically declined in recent decades in southeastern Colorado.

Both tours paid an evening, as well as a morning visit to the Lesser Prairie-Chicken lek. There are fewer birds on this lek compared to the Greater’s, and the Lesser’s are about 100 yards away from the blind (above), which is further away than the Greater’s were. The blind only fits four so the rest of us stayed in the van where the views are just as good, maybe better because we are elevated. Kansas is windy! This makes for less than ideal conditions for chicken viewing, keeping the activity, especially in the evening to a minimum, and making it tough to hear the hooting and clucking that goes on.

Though Lesser Prairie-Chickens are similar looking to Greater’s, they have a contrasting orange comb and red-purple timpani. There were only 4 males on the first evening visit with very little activity between them as they kept hunkered down. The following morning it was another early start, and in spite of high winds, ten males showed up, often paired up to display, but no females came by. The second group had better luck, with eight males in the evening and two additional birds the next morning. It was a balmy 44 degrees with little wind! One female kept strolling through the group but none of the males impressed her. A couple of Burrowing Owls were busy flying between mounds and there was a mating!

We also took our time returning back to Elkhart, as we stopped along the track to the blind to watch singing Eastern Meadowlarks, very close Grasshopper Sparrows and displaying Cassin’s Sparrows. On the macadam road a pair of Bobwhite (below) decided to turn back into the field instead of cross in front of us. Another ‘chicken’, Ring-necked Pheasants were a common sight driving back to Elkhart. For this group we had a great deal of ground cover and made a beeline back to Georgetown to look for White-tailed Ptarmigan.

In town, the small sewage treatment plant (above) has 4 ponds that we can drive around. It is wonderful to see such a location open to birders. There always seems to be a wide assortment of waterfowl with Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Ducks, Northern Shovelers, American Wigeon, Ring-necked Duck, Eared Grebe, Western Grebe and American White Pelicans (below).

While Franklin’s Gulls were there for the first group, our second visit had seven Wilson’s Phalaropes, Blue-winged Teal and Wood Duck, as well as a Yellow Mud Turtle (below) in our path.

Next……..Central Colorado

all photos © adrian binns