Description: Prairie Chickens Forever seeks to increase prairie chicken awareness while helping land-owners improve long-term sustainability of their ag operations.
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When prairie chickens gather each year on their leks or “booming grounds”, they perform unique and entertaining dances complete with booming calls that can be heard up to 1.5 miles away. Once, millions of these birds inhabited the midwest, but over the years their numbers have declined, leading one of the species to extinction.
There are four remaining species of prairie chickens in the United States, Greater Prairie Chicken, the Lesser Prairie Chicken, Attwater’s Prairie Chicken, and the Sharp-tailed Grouse. The Heath Hen went extinct in 1932. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife service, the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken is considered one of the most endangered birds in North America.
Prairie Chickens are most known for their dance which is referred to as “booming”. Each year in the spring, male prairie chickens gather on their leks to compete for female attention and show dominance by stomping their feet and inflating the colorful air sacs along their necks. As they dance they emit low, long hums punctuated by clucks and cackles. Most prairie chickens will return to the same lek year after year.