Hamden Slough (Mn) Prairie Chicken Spring Courting Dance

Oh wow! I repeat … Oh wow!!! I had never watched the spring Prairie Chicken courting ritual, and when my buddy Jim reserved a blind at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Hamden Slough National Wildlife Refuge and asked me if I would like to make this birding excursion with him, I jumped at the opportunity! This fantastic habitat is essentially due west of Duluth, but during four hours of driving one exits the Boreal Forest of northern Minnesota and reaches the beginning of the Great Plains including Prairie Potholes.

Our blind was almost luxurious. The trailer which encompassed our blind had 8 viewing windows and even rolling padded office chairs. Thus, no matter where the Prairie Chickens decided to dance, the two of us had 360 degree viewing coverage. The prior afternoon we had checked out the blind in full sunlight. Thus when we arrived in total darkness at 5:00 am, we knew what to expect and where to walk. After a ten minute hike in the dark across the prairie we reached our blind at 5:10 am (sunrise expected at 6:28 am).

You may wonder why we arrived so long before sunup. Well … the Prairie Chickens started arriving by 5:20 … in total darkness and long before the bright orb started peaking above the horizon. If we had arrived much later we would have risked scaring birds. We eventually learned after sunrise the birds were only 25 yards away from the blind, and our blind was perfectly between the birds and the rising sun.

It was eerie to listen to the birds clucking, chirping and booming in the darkness. The males inflate their orange air sacks and make a deep booming sound that could almost be described as someone faintly playing timpani drums. Turn your computer’s volume up and concentrate on the sound. I took both videos within ten minutes of sunrise.

Prairie Chickens on Hamden Slough near Audubon, Minnesota

The LEK (video link for blog email subscribers)