Three sensational days this Spring in Wyoming at the home of Betty & Ross enjoying the early morning sounds and sights of male Sage Grouse holding court on their traditional display ground, a lek.  Each morning well before sunrise found us on the edges of the lek, snug in our bag blind, long lenses aimed into the darkness.  Headlamps off and the games began – the noise of wings from all directions, some sounding like Harriers, others conjuring up images of the Spruce Goose. 

Once in their assigned position in the arena, males fan their tails and inflate a pair of air sacs in their breasts to make a bubbling sound, almost like the mud-pots in Yellowstone.  The cacophony is truly remarkable as daylight reveals the spectacle before you.