Male Greater Sage-Grouse fights can be so intense as to cause injuries that range from cuts to broken wings.
I thought some might enjoy seeing one of their “battlegrounds” (more properly called a lek) where they display and occasionally fight. The photo was taken 3 days ago, soon after sunrise, in a remote area of Wayne County, Utah. Only part of the lek can be seen in this image, there were roughly this many more birds out of frame to the right. Here you see mostly males as they strut their stuff.
1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 4000, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, no noise reduction applied, not baited, set up or called in
This shot of two fighting males was taken very early in the morning, thus the incredibly high ISO (for me at least). The wing-slaps of these stocky, powerful birds are quick and forceful so I’m not surprised that they can cause injury. In many of my fighting shots the eyes of one or both birds are closed for obvious reasons so I was happy to catch them open in this one. Based on the curved tips of the left wing primaries of the bird on the right I believe this image was taken just as the wing reached a vertical position in preparation for another attack.
1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 4000, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, no noise reduction applied, not baited, set up or called in
This is the next frame. The actual slap was so quick that I missed it, even at 10 frames/sec, but you can see the reaction of the bird on the left to the force of it. These two combatants battled for some time and they came in quite close to me but they were so focused on each other that they paid no attention to my vehicle.
I still have many hundreds of grouse images to cull and eventually I’ll be posting more images of them. But I’ll try to sprinkle a few breaks with other species in among the grouse posts, just for the variation…
Ron
Beautiful captures of these amazing birds.
Did the wing hit the other contender in his head? That’s what the recoil would suggest.
Simply amazing!!!!!
Excellent images. Thank you for this.
Never mind…I’ll sleep in the car. What day did you say it was??? See you on Antelope Island bright and early….bring coffee… ;->
I ‘m sending this from my smart phone as I drive back and forth on your street looking for your house (the yellow rental car, if you’re looking out the window)…if you see me, please wave or something. I was hoping I could crash on your couch for the night…was headed for LA but plane had some kind of mechanical probs and we ended up in Salt Lake…have friends in Sandy, but don’t remember their address (all those crazy numbers!) and they aren’t answering the phone.
Boy, did you ever get me on that one, Patty!!!!!!!
I told Mia about it and she reminded me that it’s April Fools Day and I felt so silly (I had immediately looked out the window for a yellow car). She suggested that I tell you to come on over but that I have a tiny house, no couch, only one bed and that we’ll have to share…
Come on over. I look forward to the festivities!
I didn’t realize their legs were so fuzzy-looking…looks like their wearing mukluks…wonder if that fuzz protects their legs like shapso
Patty, I noticed the same thing when I was masking the birds for sharpening. Doing those sharpening masks helps me to notice many details I might otherwise miss.
Please post more! Love them.
Len
I’m sure there’ll be more coming down the road, Len. But not tomorrow…
Wow. Wow. And wow again.
Baiters and fakers – eat your heart out.
Thanks, EC.
Great shots Ron. Yes, I’m pretty stinkin jealous (-: Looking forward to seeing many more.
Thank you, Sterling. We looked for you on the island this morning…
Terrific action shots of spectacular birds. Curious about the no noise reduction. Is this because noise was not visible in the darks at ISO 4000, or just that you chose to not remove it?
Dave, I chose not to use NR for several reasons, primary among them the fact that there seemed to be a lot of interest from readers in the noise performance of the Mark II when I posted a similar high ISO image two days earlier. I thought leaving the noise in would allow folks to judge the performance of the camera better.
Also, many of the darks (where noise is usually most prominent) are part of the birds in this image. Since NR “melts” detail, I never use it on the birds themselves, only on backgrounds and foregrounds and even then I don’t use it very often.
I did remove the upper background from the sharpening mask to prevent more noise there caused by sharpening.
If I were to use these images for any other purpose than posting here I’d likely use NR on the background.
Thanks for the shot of the lek…I was very curious about what they look like….I had no idea how big they were…or what kind of vegetation there might be…very interesting! The birds are fiercesome!!! I knew swans and geese could do considerable damage with the power of their wings, but sage-grouse look like serious contenders! It’s amazing how handsome these big, “plain” birds become during their displays…beautiful!!!
Patty, the males become truly transformed physically while they’re displaying. The change is pretty spectacular. Thank you.
Most interesting shots. I especially like the facial expressions in the first close-up. In the second close-up it’s clear that the slap was successful – once again the expressions are wonderful. It’s amazing to me how fast that slap apparently occurred.
Susan, I think that wing slap just about knocked the bird’s head off!
Wow!!! GREAT, great captures!!!
Thanks, Ellen.
I am constantly amazed at the excellent images while set at the extraordinary ISO setting!
Great shots!!
Do you have pictures of hens on their nests? Or, hens and chicks?
Dick, I have no photos of hens on nests. Nests would be very difficult to find and I don’t even try to, partly because it would require me driving cross country and off the roads and dirt tracks which I never do for fear of environmental damage. Besides these chicks are precocial and leave the nest very soon after hatching (often within minutes) so photographing them at the nest would be extremely difficult to do. I do have photos of chicks but they were taken in Montana in previous years and they weren’t on the nest. Some of them can be seen here:
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2014/08/19/centennial-valley-sage-grouse-and-their-potential-listing-as-threatened/
Many thanks Ron, much appreciated.
They are a lot like other ground nesting birds, where the chicks are precocial. Too many predators around for the young not to be precocial.
After seeing the fantastic luck you had with these two leks, I just wondered whether you might have been fortunate to catch a shot of a nest or see a mother with chicks.
Amazing shots Ron, especially at such a high ISO.
Thank you, Rich.