The Secret Sex Lives of Lesser and Greater Prairie Chickens
April 16 -17, 2016
1 graduate credit
$420. With credit. $330. Without credit
[email protected]
www.coloradorivertrip.com
Day 1: Class starts at 4:00 a.m. in Holly, Colorado. Our tour to the Lesser Prairie Chicken mating
lek will begin at 4:00 a.m. as we are picked up by the bus that will serve as our bird blind. Armed
with spotting scopes, binoculars, and cameras we will drive in sleepy quiet to the lek that has
been used by the Lesser Chickens for many generations. Lesser Prairie Chickens are now
considered a threatened species in Colorado. As the short grass prairies were cultivated, their
habit range grew smaller and smaller. The Colorado Division of Wildlife is now conducting
extensive studies on their habitat, the mating rituals, clutch size and behaviors to try to save the
last few Lesser Prairie Chickens in Colorado. In historical times, these prairie chickens were a
delicacy to the Native Americans and to the pioneers crossing the plains. This lek is on private
land, with our tour guides having been granted special permission to take groups into see them.
Before dawn even begins to glimmer in the eastern horizon, we will be able to hear the male
Lesser Prairie Chickens start to arrive on their hard fought for territories and begin their morning
serenade to the females. Male chickens put so much energy and life force into defending their
territories, preening and displaying for each other and for the females, that their lives are much
shorter than the females. Shortly after dawn, the females will begin to arrive. They usually have
clutch sizes of 8-10 eggs, each egg having to be separately fertilized. The females usually lay one
egg a day and make their morning journey to the lek to assure that today’s egg will be fertile.
Females alone incubate the eggs and raise the chicks, while the males continue their showy
displays of ruffled feathers, booming orange air sacs, and raised neck feathers. It’s a beautiful
dance of male grandeur that the hens delight in seeing. The hen will casually wander through
the lek until she decides which one is the morning’s favorite, while the males dance, stomp and
flutter for her attention. We will watch this delightful display of the dance of the Lesser Prairie
Chicken until around 8:30 a.m. Returning to Holly, we will enjoy a country style breakfast at the
home of the tour guide, while learning even more about the history and ecology of the short
grass prairie.
After breakfast, we will pack up from the motel and travel to the site of the Amache Japanese
Internment Camp located near Holly. During WW II, 7500 Japanese – Americans were moved,
mostly from California, to Amache Internment Camp and detained there until the war ended.
Although a sad time in history for the people in the camp, they brought with them much
agricultural knowledge from California and soon turned the camp into a productive farmland.
We will learn the sad history of the Americans who faced Internment because of their heritage.
The ruins of Amache are also great bird and wildlife habitat.
Our next stop is the site of the tragic Sand Creek Massacre. In 1864, a band of Cheyenne and
Arapahoe Indians, including were camped on a cold November morning near Sand Creek in
Eastern Colorado. Seven hundred soldiers attacked and mutilated 70-163 Indians, most of them
women and children. The chiefs approached the soldiers before the massacre carrying an
American Flag and a White Flag of Peace. Learn the history of this solemn site and never forget.
As we journey north toward the leks of the Greater Prairie Chickens, we will drive back country
roads near Sand Creek in search of Black Tailed Prairie Dog Towns. Occupying the prairie dog
burrows are the elusive Burrowing Owls. The Prairie Dogs are a keystone species due to the fact
that many other animals live in their towns and occupy their underground burrows, including the
most endangered mammal on the planet, the Black Footed Ferret. Our chances of seeing Prairie
Dogs are excellent. We have a great chance of seeing Burrowing Owls, but since Black Footed
Ferrets are nocturnal and extremely rare, we will just have to read about them.
When we arrive in Wray, we will check into our motels and take a short rest before our 6:00 p.m.
appointment at the Wray Museum to hear the mandatory introduction to tomorrow’s tour of
the Greater Prairie Chicken lek by the Colorado Division of Wildlife. We will also enjoy a tour of
the Wray Museum, a historical museum of eastern Colorado. Sleep well, for tomorrow will be
another 4:00 a.m. tour.
Day 2: We will meet the tour van again at 4:00 a.m. for another sleepy drive, this time to the lek
of the Greater Prairie Chickens. These fascinating birds are much more plentiful than their
smaller relatives in S. Colorado and are not considered threatened in Colorado. This morning’s
tour is guided by a ranger from the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Our bird blind in a small trailer
that is parked near the site with side opening windows. Again we will be armed with binoculars,
spotting scopes and cameras as we await the arrival of the males. Even more flamboyant than
the Lesser’s, the dance of the Greater Prairie Chicken is a frenzy of fluttering feathers, booming
air sacs, stomping feet and male aggression toward encroaching neighbors. The females wander
casually amid the booming madness as if they were unaware of all of the attention. Usually the
dominant male in the center of the lek is rewarded with the most fatherhood, but the others give
it a beautiful dancing attempt. After our 4 hours at the lek, we will again be treated to a
scrumptious breakfast by the Wray Chamber of Commerce. Meeting the local people and hearing
their involvement with the conservation of the Greater Prairie Chickens is a fascinating event.
The farmers go out of their way to protect the chickens, often leaving grain uncut in the fields to
help them. On our way out of town, we will enjoy touring some local wetlands in search of wild
turkeys, many species of ducks, geese, phalaropes, and other wetland birds.