Dawn journey to photograph prairie chickens

I grabbed a few snacks for breakfast and a bottle of water and headed out to my truck. Sometimes, I think my truck is getting tired of this early morning routine, but my old truck fired up, and we headed out on the road. It was a short drive before I exited the main road and got onto a series of dusty gravel roads. Many miles later, with a cloud of dirt bellowing behind me, I pulled up to the desired location.

Of course, it was still dark, so I needed to gather all my camera gear by feeling around, taking care not to drop anything. I wasn’t sure which of my large lenses to take. After weighing the pros and cons of each for a minute, I finally settled on the shorter of the two long lenses. I mounted the lens and camera on the tripod, grabbed a few extra batteries, and made sure I had memory cards.

First, I slung my chair blind over my back and strapped my short lens over my shoulder. Next, I hoisted my large camera and tripod over my right shoulder. This became more of a balancing act than anything else. The equipment is so heavy that all the weight falls only on my right shoulder. Altogether, the blind and camera gear weighed well over 40 pounds.

I figured I had everything I needed, so I headed out, walking in the dark. The overnight temperatures were below freezing, and there was a layer of frost on the grass. It was a very long walk to the location I needed to reach before the sun came up. Looking to my right, I could see a glow on the eastern horizon. The sun was on its way. I needed to hurry

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About 20 minutes later, I was winded and breathing heavily from the long trek. I could see the area where I needed to be, so I set up my chair blind and aligned my tripod and camera in the right direction. I sat down, pulled the blind material over my head, and just like that, I was covered up and hidden except for the front of my lens sticking out.

Now it was time to make sure I had everything I might need within easy reach while it was still dark. Moving around too much would scare the birds, so preparation is crucial for a successful shoot. I knew the sun would soon rise, and the birds would be arriving. I was out in the middle of an extremely large, windswept prairie area where the greater prairie chickens would soon arrive at their traditional booming ground.

The greater prairie chicken (Tympanuchus cupido), sometimes called the pinnated grouse, is known for a set of feathers, called pinnated feathers, near the neck of the male, which he raises while displaying. This large, chicken-like bird is commonly found in prairies, as its name suggests.

The greater prairie chicken was once an abundant and dominant species across the windswept prairies. In the 1800s, there were millions of prairie chickens. Due to overhunting and habitat loss, this bird was nearly extinct by the 1930s. In many parts of the country, this bird is still considered endangered. It has been completely eradicated from Canada and is officially listed as locally extinct.

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Currently, there are an estimated 500,000 prairie chickens in the United States. However, the population is steadily decreasing. In places such as Iowa, which historically had millions of prairie chickens, now has fewer than 100. Wisconsin has around 500 to 600 birds in a good year. In some years, only 200 to 300 are counted in Wisconsin, while Minnesota reports around 5,000 chickens. While that may seem like a large number in comparison, it is a tiny fraction of what historically existed in the state.

As the sun slowly rose over the prairie, the male prairie chickens flew and walked into the traditional dancing ground, called a lek, which was right in front of me. The males would pair off and call loudly. Sparring matches would break out as the males worked out the hierarchy of dominance. They displayed and danced, waiting for a female to show up. For the next few hours, I watched, studied, and captured images of these amazing birds, wondering just how much longer these marvelous creatures will grace this planet. Until next time …

Editor’s note: Stan Tekiela’s NatureSmart column appears twice a month in the Eden Prairie Local News. Tekiela is an author, naturalist, and wildlife photographer who travels extensively across the United States to study and capture wildlife images.

You can follow his work on Instagram and Facebook. He can be contacted via his website at www.naturesmart.com.