Strange Dance On MN Grasslands: Mating Call Of Sharp-Tail Grouse
AITKIN, Minnesota (WCCO) -- It's before sunrise on a cool April morning. Suddenly, the morning stillness erupts in a cacophony of nature.
The chorus you hear signals a spring ritual on a dancing ground called a lek, Scandinavian for meeting place.
"They'll start showing up when there's barely any light," Jodie Provost, a private land habitat specialist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resource, said.
Peering out of a blind, we see birds soon scampering into view. Thus begins the mating show of sharp-tail grouse.
Provost whispers quietly, "as the sun comes up, the activity will become more intense."
Bathed in morning sun, the dance can last 90 minutes or more.
"They rattle tail feathers, stomp their feet, fill up their air sacks," Provost explains.
It's rhythmic and well-choreographed. Each male sharp-tail is hoping to attract a willing female.
Preserving sharp-tails is Provost's passion. She adds, "sometimes they remind me of little army tanks out there battling off against each other."
Unfortunately, the spring spectacle is becoming more and more rare across much of Minnesota. Populations of sharp-tails are declining compared to the numbers decades ago.
At the root of the decline is a loss of critical habitat, which is pushing the birds to the brink.
"The southern part of their range we have been losing leks the last several years. The dancing grounds where they once danced are now empty," Provost said.
Unlike other grouse, sharp-tails require wide open spaces. Not just for mating and nesting, but also to see predators.
"They like a very wide open landscape when they're dancing," Provost points out.
But over the years, open grasslands have grown over with brush and trees.
"Without any management disturbance, the habitat just wants to grow back up in brush, and eventually the trees and forests," Jake Granfors said, a biologist with the conservation group, Pheasants Forever.
That's why he is working with private landowners and other groups to preserve what the sharp-tail need.
Granfors says controlled burns, small grain crops, even cattle grazing all help restore what's been lost.
"If an area hasn't been managed and the brush is too big, we can come in and help mow it down, clear it again," Granfors said.
Essential restoration if this ritual's to remain. A show of nature where you simply sit, look and listen.
"It's about the whole ecosystem itself," Provost said.
Anyone can reserve one of several DNR viewing blinds maintained at leks across Minnesota.
For more information, click here.