Greater Prairie Chickens!

For many years, I've wanted to go see the Greater Prairie Chickens and hear them "boom", which for these chickens, really is more like a whistle that is described as blowing over the top of a bottle. But I had the chance to go on Friday - just south of Manhattan on the Konza Biological Research Station, run by K-State. Up at 4 a.m., getting ready and then dashing out to be to the meeting point by 5:40 - I was there, believe it or not, at about 5:20 - and then we carpooled with the leader and then, hunkered down in a blind. There were 7 women and our guide, a man with the most interesting name of Hoogy Hooghem. Nice older retired teacher. In any event, it was a grand time and we were able to observe the chickens from our blind. The chickens even kept coming back after a Harrier Hawk flew overhead. Hoogy described the lek (the area where the chickens come to display and dance) as a "singles bar." There were 5 males and 2 females showed up to check out the boys. In the blind, there was a lot of joking - one of the women said, "she ordered Chardonnay." It was a lot of fun. Then, I had to rush off to work - I packed a change of clothes (the blind was rather cold, so I wore my practical lined pants, hiking stuff, etc.) and just changed for work at the rec center on campus. All in all, worth the time and effort.