Lesser Prairie Chicken

The Lesser Prairie-Chicken, Tympanuchus pallidicinctus, a species in the grouse family, is slightly smaller and paler than its near relative the Greater Prairie-Chicken. It is found primarily in the sandhills and prairies of Western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, and the Llano Estacado of Texas and Eastern New Mexico, and also rarely in Southeastern Colorado, and Western Kansas.

The Lesser Prairie Chicken is classified as Vulnerable (VU), considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.

The lesser prairie chicken is a ground nesting bird that is native to the mixed grass prairies of the Texas Panhandle, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Two distinct populations occur in the Panhandle, one in the sand hills country of the High Plains west of Lubbock and the other in the Rolling Plains region in the northeast. Although once common, its -numbers have steadily declined across its range due to alteration of habitat for agricultural purposes. More

* Do lesser prairie chickens have any special adaptation? * What eats the greater prairie chicken? » More Mentioned in * greater prairie-chicken * Prairie Chicken * Tympanuchus * Grulla National Wildlife Refuge * Heath Hen * Endemic birds of eastern North America * Grouse More

Habitat evaluation of Lesser Prairie Chickens in eastern Chaves County, New Mexico. New Mexico State University Agricultural Experiment Station, Las Cruces, NM. 141 pages. Fuhlendorf, S. D., A. J. W. Woodward, D. M. Leslie Jr., and J. S. Shackford. 2002. Multi-scale effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on Lesser Prairie-Chicken populations of the U.S. Southern Great Plains. Landscape Ecology 17:617-628. Giesen, K. M. 1998. Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus). In The Birds of North America, No. 364 (A. Poole and F. More

of the lesser prairie chickens this April and flock to Milnesand, N.M., for opportunities to see the birds' colorful, sometimes comical, mating rituals on the prairie grasslands of southeastern New Mexico. Be sure to register early for the 9th Annual High Plains Lesser Prairie Chicken Festival. The event is limited to 100 individuals, and spots usually are full by the April 1 signup deadline. Registration is limited because of the sensitivity of the lesser prairie chicken during the breeding season. More

Lesser Prairie Chicken; credit: USFWSDescription: Mostly brown in color with horizontal barring and short, rounded tails, lesser prairie-chickens are about the size of a small domestic chicken. Males have red-purple air sacs on the sides of their necks that inflate during courtship displays in spring. Range: Lesser prairie-chickens historically occupied the grasslands of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas and southeastern Colorado. Habitat: These birds prefer sandy grassland areas that have an abundance of midgrasses, sandsage and yucca. More

sounds made by lesser prairie chicken cocks has conferred the term "gobbling grounds" to their leks. On a quiet spring morning, these sounds can carry as much as two miles across the open prairie, serving as an audible beacon to prairie chicken hens. Males of either species compete with each other through a series of spectacular displays, calls, and sparring for the coveted inner-most territories on the lek. More

* Lesser Prairie Chickens Displaying in Woodward, Oklahoma1:21 * Ajouter à la file d'attente Ajoutée à la file d'attente Lesser Prairie Chickens Displaying in Woodward,... More

The lesser prairie chicken once roamed in abundant numbers across the high plains of five states. Yet since 1900, their populations had plummeted by 97 percent. Now, thanks to efforts to protect some of the best prairie chicken habitat left in the Lower 48, these distinctive "booming" birds have a greater chance of survival. In 2005, the Conservancy purchased the 18,500-acre Creamer Ranch in eastern New Mexico to become the Milnesand Prairie Preserve. More

The Lesser Prairie Chicken in Oklahoma. ODWC Tech. Bull. No. 6. 58 pp. PDF provided by the Sutton Center with the permission of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (PDF file size is more than 5 MB-broadband connection recommended.) * Davison, V. E. 1935. The Davison Ranch, Ellis County Oklahoma, Game Bird Project. More

Lesser Prairie Chicken Lekking and Mating8150 vuesSélection vidéoDisapprovingRabbits * Prairie chickens displaying on lek1:10 * Ajouter à la file d'attente Ajoutée à la file d'attente Prairie chickens displaying on lek1151 vueswestdakota1 * Prairie Chicken Dance0:52 * Ajouter à la file d'attente Ajoutée à la file d'attente More

Lesser Prairie Chicken-actual photo taken on a tour by Chris Frank Photo taken on a tour by Chris Frank 2010 LESSER PRAIRIE CHICKEN SEASON IS OVER. THE BIRDS DANCED AND PERFORMED WELL SO THERE SHOULD BE GREAT OPPORTUNITIES IN 2011. More

lesser prairie chicken is a chunky chicken-like bird. Gathering in flocks of as many as 80 individuals, the Texas population is associated with shinnery oak-bluestem communities, often nesting under shinnery oaks or amid tall bunchgrasses. Like their larger relative the greater prairie chicken, they gather on short-grass “leks” to perform elaborate mating rituals every spring and fall at dawn and dusk. More

Lesser Prairie Chicken Attempts At Mating Quick & Dirty Post From Oklahoma Our featured artist Debby Kapsari also has blogged about the Festival: The Fabulous (Prairie) Chicken Dance Chickens Come Home, Roosting Nicely Out on the lone prairie, a painting comes to life This Is Real Oklahoma Travel writer Sophia Dembling was a guest at the festival and has a wonderful blog entry, from the perspective of a non-birder: More