The behavior of the Lesser Prairie Chickens on the Lek is textbook lekking behavior, involving competing males and selecting females. It was fascinating to watch these birds, and I was fortunate to be able to do it.

The process begins as competing males dance and display for selecting females.The males cackle and boom and stamp their feet on the ground. The females appear to be unimpressed. The males begin to challenge each other on the lek.
A photo slide show showing challenges on the lek:
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Next post: The challenges escalate into battles.











Great Pictures.
dan
Excellent post Linda!! Looks like the males are “bowing” to the females ~ I LOVE that
Nice Blog Linda! Your pictures are amazing. I have an especially soft spot for the prairie chickens. We need more male competing/female selecting behavior in this world.
I absolutely agree with you. Men should work as hard to impress us as those LPCH males work to impress the hens.
Fabulous footage! What an awesome experience.
I love your new blog. A very exciting blog post showing the breeding dance of the Prairie Chicken. A fantastic series of shots and explanation of their behaviors. I look forward to more of your photo adventures in New Mexico.
Linda ~ I love your blog! Great picutres and slideshow! Cathy
Superb series Linda
And a great website too, I will link to my blog so I can follow easy
Thanks Mike! I’m going to link to your blog and others as soon as I figure out how to do that.
Great series of photos! Thanks for sharing the experience.