Between 6:50 and 7:30pm this evening April 8th, I watched a male Sharp-tail= ed Grouse displaying on a lek with at least 16 Greater Prairie-Chickens a= t Plover Prairie East Unit.
The location of the lek is four miles north of Bellingham on Hwy 75 then tw= o miles east (look for the camouflaged tent) and is easily viewed from th= e dead-end road that turns north. The grouse got into several skirmishes with the male chickens. The chickens= were always the aggressors but the grouse never backed down. The grouse didn=E2=80=99t show any signs of hybridization with Prairie Chic= kens, but its presence at the lek could mean the possibility of future hy= brids in the area. This is possibly the same bird I saw at Plover Prairie= back on February 14th. There were also 3 Short-eared Owls flying around the area at dusk(excellent= migration in Lac Qui Parle this spring with at least 16 SEowls seen so f= ar). The apparent influx of Sharp-tailed Grouse into the west-central regions fr= om the Dakotas this winter has resulted in the birds not leaving the area= so far this spring. Most sightings are of singles with the exception of = a group of at least 28 grouse near Odessa in early march. The other most = recent sightings were of single birds at Salt Lake on 3/25, just west of = Marietta on 4/3, and 2 miles northeast of Nassau on 4/6. Bill J. Unzen
