Greater Sage-Grouse photos

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While cleaning out folders in my bloated Lightroom catalog, I found a lot of unprocessed raw files of photos taken on a photo tour led by Greg Lavaty in 2014. He called it a chicken run. The goal was to get photos of White-tailed Ptarmigan, Greater Sage Grouse, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Greater and Lesser Prairie-Chicken and the complex breeding rituals of the Grouse and Prairie-Chickens.

All of the photos shown are of Greater Sage-Grouse seen at a lek near Walton, CO on April 2, 2014.

All shots were taken with a Nikon D7100 camera and a 500mm f/4 lens shot at f/5.6. Shutter speeds varied from 1/1000 sec to 1/2500 sec and ISO from 1000 to 1250..

Pointed tail. Legs with feathers. Yellow patch over the eye. White breast. Dark brown throat, Black Belly. Two yellow sacs on the neck.

Females, want to see how fit I am? Look at my spiky tail feathers and the size of my puffed-up chest.

And …. I earned this valuable territory in the middle of the lek by chasing off many less-fit males not worthy of your attention.

In a lek, males compete with each other through a series of spectacular displays, calls, and sparring for the coveted innermost territories on the lek. The one or two males most successful in attaining and defending these small territories typically perform about 90% of the matings that occur on the lek.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit.