For thousands of years...long before humans were here as witnesses...grassland grouse gathered every spring on the highest hills of the prairie and performed an elaborate mating dance accompanied by a haunting musical refrain.
The booming of prairie-chickens, first audible even before the sun crests the eastern horizon each morning in early spring, sounds much like the wind playing a mournful three-note tune across the mouth of an empty jug.
Once heard, the song cannot be forgotten. The sounds and motions of the dance came in dreams and visions to Blackfoot, Shoshone, Sioux and Cheyenne, inspiring the invention of sacred dances to celebrate the return of new life and fertility in the spring.
Populations of the ground-nesting Greater Prairie-Chicken—numbering in the tens of millions in the 1800s—are dramatically diminishing as their ancient prairie courting and nesting grounds are fragmented and consumed by land development. The Flint Hills are home to the largest remaining population of this colorful, secretive bird.
Witness this ancient ritual in person
Greater Prairie-Chicken
Tympanuchus cupido
"Drummer of Love"
GET UP WITH THE CHICKENS!
Meet at the Matfield Green school at 5:20 a.m. and travel to a "booming ground" high atop a hill on a private ranch.
You will be comfortably camouflaged in a viewing blind, with a front row seat on the action. Your host will provide interpretive information and answers to questions, as well as coffee, tea, water and light snacks during a viewing session of approximately 3 hours. A composting toilet is available in the blind.
The Dance. Ten to twenty male prairie-chickens gather before sunrise and pair off to spar for territory and dominance. Their song can be heard from several miles away, and females fly in to watch the show and select a suitable mate, usually the most dominant male.
The blind is situated right at the edge of the booming ground so that you can easily see and photograph this amazing performance. While strutting, dancing and singing, the males inflate bright yellow air sacs on their necks, erect the pinnae feathers on the tops of their heads, and snap their tail feathers. The booming sound, which is created when air is released from the air sac, is punctuated by raucous caws and cackles.The elaborate dance moves include rapid foot-stomping, flutter-jumping and a courtly nuptial bow.
You may also be privileged to witness what happens when the dance is interrupted by predators such as coyotes and hawks.
Listen to prairie chickens
Imagine an outdoor singles club for birds in which the males must sing and dance so the females can choose a mate! This is the annual spring mating display of the Greater Prairie-Chicken.
