What the hell is a Lek?

Rohirrim

A Lek is a communal courtship grounds where some species of birds have mating rituals. I was able to visit a Greater Sage Grouse Lek yesterday morning to observe the male of the species trying to entice the females into their territory. While I wasn't able to get as close as I'd like and the shots are cropped pretty heavily. I'd like to share them anyway.


A big boy hoping for a new girl.

EXIF
Camera: Canon 20D
Lens: Canon 500 mm f/4.0 with 1.4xTC


Getting ready to strut his stuff

EXIF
Camera: Canon 20D
Lens: Canon 500 mm f/4.0 with 1.4xTC


Come on baby :wow look at this :wink

EXIF
Camera: Canon 20D
Lens: Canon 500 mm f/4.0 with 1.4xTC

Sitting pretty

EXIF
Camera: Canon 20D
Lens: Canon 500 mm f/4.0 with 1.4xTC


Thank you for looking

System

Steve-

these are excellent!-

fascinating pics-

george

jwear

great shots --now that would have been a fun shoot great set of shots steve

Thusie

Really cool shots Steve and great info as well, thanks

bfjr

very cool and well done, don't think I've seen one of these

Rohirrim

gefillmore wrote:

Steve-

these are excellent!-

fascinating pics-

george

Thank you George.

Rohirrim

jwear wrote:

great shots --now that would have been a fun shoot great set of shots steve

Thanks Jeff. They should still be active at the Lek for a nother 3-4 weeks so I hope to get up there at least one more time to see if I can get closer. It was quite neat though to observe these guys.

Rohirrim

Thusie wrote:

Really cool shots Steve and great info as well, thanks

Thank you Thusie, I appreciate your comments.

Harryb

Outstanding Steve. Some unique shots with great color and exposure.

Froggy

Very nice, I really like the unusual shots you don't see everyday, great captures.

Steve

Osprey Whisperer

What's a "lek" Well duh...it's a body of water used for various things like boating, fishing, swimming etc. Sometimes you'll find birds wading in the lek. Up North when winter hits...the lek freezes and then crazy snow birds flock to the pond to play hockey ,ice skate & snowmobile.





Nice series, Steve. An interesting bird.

Rohirrim

bfjr wrote:

very cool and well done, don't think I've seen one of these

Thank you Ben. These Grouse are only found in the North/West/Central area of the country and even their they aren't very common.

Rohirrim

Harryb wrote:

Outstanding Steve. Some unique shots with great color and exposure.

Thank you Harry, I appreciate your comments.

kdog

Rohirrim wrote:

Come on baby :wow look at this

Isn't that against forum rules?






What a remarkable set of photos.