{"id":56911,"date":"2018-02-27T05:15:44","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T12:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=56911"},"modified":"2018-02-27T05:21:31","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T12:21:31","slug":"male-sage-grouse-strutting-their-stuff-on-the-lek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/02\/27\/male-sage-grouse-strutting-their-stuff-on-the-lek\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Sage Grouse Strutting Their Stuff On The Lek"},"content":{"rendered":"

Near the end of March three years ago I spent several mornings watching displaying Greater Sage Grouse on two different leks in Wayne County, Utah. So the birds wouldn’t be disturbed by my presence\u00a0I arrived in the dark and didn’t leave until the birds had left the lek several hours later. I was shooting from inside my pickup and in this high country that time of year it was damned cold. I couldn’t start my engine or run my heater and I had to keep my window down for photography so frostbite was a real danger. Hot coffee and hand warmers helped but I’ve seldom been that uncomfortable from cold in my entire life (and I’m from Montana!).<\/p>\n

But it was worth every second of cold discomfort.<\/p>\n

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1\/640, f\/6.3, ISO 1600, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

Much of the time I was shooting in near-darkness at very low shutter speeds and high ISO’s but some of the males stayed long enough to display shortly after sunrise so I was able to get good light, sharper shots and even catch lights in their eyes. The sun shining through my windows even warmed me up a little and boy did that feel good.<\/p>\n

Here I caught\u00a0a male just beginning his display in an open area on the frost-covered ground. I think this side view shows off that\u00a0dramatic posture quite well.<\/p>\n

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1\/1000, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

During part of the display their throat pouches are inflated and in my view they look pretty silly. To me everything about this plumage display and posture screams “male” except for those throat pouches. I’m still working on that one…<\/p>\n

For the past several years there’s been too much snow in the high country for me to access the leks during display season. I’m hoping this year will be different.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve seldom been this cold in my entire life but my time on the lek was absolutely worth the extreme discomfort.<\/p>\n

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