At 4:30 this afternoon, I spotted 5 Sharp-Tailed Grouse in a stubble field on the west side of Yellow Medicine County Rd 15, rough estimate of 200 yards south of 250th St, one of the east-west minimum maintenance roads that cut through Mound Spring Prairie SNA/WMA.
The birds were on fenced-in private land between the southerly SNA sections. When I first saw them, they were just 20 yards from the fence line, slowly making their way southwest, foraging as they moved. There is a gulch with some cover in that direction, fenced for grazing. Through the scope I could clearly see pale undersides and tails; no barring underneath whatsoever. I didn't observe any lekking behavior, but will check again in the morning and will update if/when I see them again. Precise coordinates for GPS or Google Maps are: 44.759421, -96.420581 Florida Township, 2 miles SE of Gary SD as the crow flies. -- Jason M. Frank Founder and Vice President, Luddite Ornithologists League (LOL) https://turnstonecreations.smugmug.com/ "The Universe does not have laws. It has habits. And habits can be broken." -Dr. Wiggs Dannyboy Sent from my invisible blue Homing Pigeon ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
