Montana Upland Bird...Sage Grouse Lek Update

28 males strutting their stuff on a lek we've been watching for the past 12 or 13 years; and one has been under observation continuously since 1961. Biologists surmise its been used continuously for decades before that. Since the season is getting only a couple hens showed up this morning and the cocks seemed to lose interest earlier still a great way to start the day...

But the big news we finally relocated a lek we'd been searching for two springs. Fearing the worst, that some unknown disaster might have wiped out the population you can imagine our elation at finding instead simply a change of lek address. By the time we found it in late morning only a half dozen males remained, apparently played out from the rigorous early morning festivities.