Article by Scott Mackenthun, special to the Mankato Free Press

We all have a short amount of time on this planet, so one of my annual aspirations is to seek out a new opportunity to be moved by the natural world.

That could mean driving across the country to observe a total solar eclipse or walking across the road to watch a white-tailed deer doe with fawns feed on grass in a firefly-lit meadow at dusk. Taking in the sight of an incredible wild and rare landscape, touring a biome you’ve never seen, or experiencing firsthand the spectacle of an annual migration with concentrated animals are a few ideas of the kinds of visits that leave you awestruck. Leaving an observation experience with gratitude and wonderment for the sanctity of life and this Earth are good for people and for our relationship with nature.

Recently, my daughters and I visited a sharp-tailed grouse lek. For the uninitiated, leks are gathering areas for male sharptails to display. Lek is Swedish for play, so a lek is a location where males will compete for mates and the showmanship, at least to human eyes, seems very much like playing, although it is anything but for the grouse.

Arriving in the pre-dawn darkness, I rushed to park my vehicle on a Lake of the Woods County gravel road and lead my daughters to our viewing blind, a square wooden box with 3 chairs and peep port holes and curtains. As the sun’s first rays started lightening the skies, you could hear the hooting and gobbling.

It was foreign to us as first time sharp-tailed grouse observers. But as the sun rose higher, it was almost as if the orchestra was playing the prelude.

When the curtains on the figurative stage were pulled aside and there was enough light to see clearly, male sharp-tailed grouse were crouched low and calling all over the short-mowed grass, their calls matching up to the cacophony heard in the shrinking darkness just 10 minutes earlier.

Crouching low in almost a bowing posture, the males hooted while dipping their heads and their gobbles elicited a side-to-side headshake. While sharp-tailed grouse are a camouflaged and mottled brown, black, and white in coloration, the males are adorned with superciliary apteria, an ornithological way of saying the combs over their eyes are bright yellow, enlarged, and exaggerated during breeding season. Sharp-tailed grouse are in the genus Tympanuchus, which is Greek for ‘holding a drum,’ a reference for the three species in the genus, the greater and lesser prairie chicken and the sharp-tailed grouse, all of which have drum napes.

According to the Audubon Society, the bright pink drum nape air sacs are extensions of the esophagus and help amplify the birds’ courtship calls. Hearing the birds hoot and gobble, with yellow eye combs catching the sun and pink air sacs inflated gives an incredible visual in the spring early morning sunshine.

If the sound and visuals weren’t enough, we saw some intense battles.

Males faced each other head on and chest bumped one another, slapped each other with wings, pecked at each other, pulled feathers, and even head butted when things got heated. The victor that emerged maintained his position on the lek and got back to dancing while the loser sought a place to dance elsewhere.

The dancing is unquestionably the highlight.

There is calling, there is fighting, there are colorful adornments, but none of it comes close to the grandeur of the dancing. Males spread their wings at their sides, point their tail feathers straight up, crouch low to the Earth, and hoot slowly, before erupting into a sharp staccato of feet dancing rapidly on the ground.

The Audubon Society notes that male sharp-tailed grouse can stamp their feet 20 times per second during these dances. With a sound like machine gun fire or a heavy and rapid rattle, the birds advance or spin before stopping as if to reload, never losing their posture as they go. The sound comes from their tail feathers vibrating, and when one male starts dancing it seems to trigger others as they dance in synchrony.

What were the females doing, you ask? Walking casually through the lek, taking in the show. Who could blame them; it was an amazing spectacle and they had many demonstrative suitors from which to choose.

If you go: Make a reservation for the blind with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Baudette Wildlife Office. The lek viewing blind is booked with a call or email for a reservation. It’s worth noting that the lek is not on state land; rather much credit should be given to the family that owns the land and permits visitors to see this spectacle free of charge through the local DNR office. Find overnight accommodations through Lake of the Woods tourism and arrive on the date of your reservation before sunrise. The dancing will be done within the first two hours of the morning. Most dancing occurs in April through the first week of May.