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 Attwater's Prairie Chicken less than 24 hours old - Houston Zoo, Texas As I have mentioned, if it wasn’t for the success of the captive breeding program at zoos across Texas, the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken would be long extinct. Fortunately for us, this bird still can be seen on a couple prairies and the population has been increasing each of the last few years.
 Captive Attwater's Prairie Chicken (Tympanachus cupido attwateri) - College Station, Texas Whenever you are working with an extremely rare species, it is hard to build any expectations about the possibility of actually finding, much less photographing an individual. Fortunately, for the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken, there is a substantial population living in captivity, including a few individuals that were only about 10 minutes from where I lived, so that is where I started.
 Captive Attwater's Prairie Chicken (Tympanachus cupido attwateri) - Texas A&M University, Texas While Lesser Prairie Chickens can be found in substantial numbers across several states, the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken is only found on three single prairies in Texas. Once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, today there are less than 100 birds remaining in the wild and that population is only sustained through a significant captive breeding and release program.
 Lesser Prairie Chickens (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) in a standoff - Milensand, New Mexico In 2008, when I had the opportunity to spend a week in eastern New Mexico photographing Lesser Prairie Chickens on the lek, I knew I would have an opportunity to capture some great action. After all, there are only so many headshots and portraits of birds dancing you can make, so I decided to focus several days worth of shooting trying to capture the fights on the lek.
 Male Lesser Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) Displaying - Milnesand, New Mexico It’s predawn on the prairies of eastern New Mexico and I sit in my blind listening to the darkness. A slight breeze riffles through the nylon of the blind, but otherwise the prairie is nearly silent. I wait, listening for any sound of dawn. An insect chirps mechanically occasionally in the darkness. As the first hint of dawn begins to seep across the Eastern horizon, I hear the heavy flap of wings as the first prairie chickens arrive to begin their morning displays. Soon, the birds begin to arrive from all directions, flying low across the prairie and landing in an open area, as they do every morning and evening each spring. I can hear the displays before I can see them, strange noises as the males inflate the balloon-like pouches on the side of their neck and dance furiously trying to attract a female. As they bob their heads calling, it sounds like some weird noise a plastic toy might make, but its far more than a squeak. Something between a coo, a boom, and a whistle. There really is no other display like it.
 Lesser Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) - Milnesand, New Mexico Thanks for all the feel better comments and emails. I am getting there, slowly but surely and I will be back on Monday with a full week of posts, I promise. After that, spring Migration should be pretty much in full swing and I will try to be out photographing on a daily basis so there should be lots of new content up and coming. See you then and hope everyone has a great weekend!
If you are here looking to learn more about Lesser Prairie Chickens, you’ll have to check back tomorrow. I woke up this morning with a nasty bug and simply don’t have the energy to write a good post for you today. I’ll be back when I get my head back on my shoulders! Thanks for understanding.
 Lesser Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) - Milnesand, New Mexico Have you ever seen a bird dance? No? A couple minutes on YouTube will turn up some amazing dancing birds including Birds of Paradise and a manikin that does the moonwalk, but have you ever actually seen a bird dance? Well, you don’t have to travel to the tropics to witness these amazing phenomena. Depending where you live in the United States, it may be in your backyard or fairly close nearby…
 Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) - Summerhill State Forest, New York  Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) - Summerhill State Forest, New York Like yesterday’s Song Sparrows, many Dark-eyed Juncos hang around the area over the winter and are commonly seen at feeders. They also set up territories and begin singing early in the spring. They breed in forests dominated by conifers but are also seen in mixed woods. I have had them singing in my back yard in the past few weeks, but I was able to photograph this male singing in Summerhill State Forest last week. I have enjoyed photographing these sparrows both this spring and last fall because we don’t get them in central Florida.
 Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) - Summerhill State Forest Talking about Song Sparrows as a migrant might not be totally fair as some birds stay over the winter and some migrate south. However, regardless of whether they are returning migrants or just over wintering birds, Song Sparrows are one of the first birds of spring to start singing. Here in Central New York they are everywhere and their song is ubiquitous. It seems that nearly every time I put my binoculars on a sparrow, it turns out to be a Song Sparrow.
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