Other stories in "Bird watching"

• Snow birds
  A wintering flock of trumpeter swans has put Monticello on the map.
• Where eagles land
  Winter is anything but slow at birds' favorite gathering spots.
• Hawk heaven
  On a ridgetop in Duluth, bird watchers keep eyes on the skies.
• Birds call
  In spring, a symphony of trills and chirps draws hikers into the woods.
• Owl aboard
  In southeast Minnesota, a livewire named Alice is the star of a late-winter festival.
• Open sesame on the sloughs
  In winter, eagle-watchers and snowshoers can explore frozen Mississippi byways.

Hot date (with a prairie chicken)

In April, things heat up on central Wisconsin booming grounds.

If you'd like a peek into one of the world's most bizarre courtship rituals, there are places still available in viewing blinds in the grasslands of central Wisconsin, where glacial Lake Wisconsin left a vast sand plain.

"That large flat bowl in the middle of the state happens to be fabulous habitat for prairie chickens,'' says naturalist Amy Thorstenson of Golden Sands conservation council in Stevens Point. "It's the last stronghold on the east side of the Mississippi.''

During the council's annual Prairie Chicken Festival in April, there's viewing in blinds around Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids. So why should anyone get up at 4 a.m. and sit in the cold for three hours just to watch a bunch of chickens hop around in the grass? Because male prairie chickens are the goofballs of the bird world.

Let's let conservationist Sharon Schwab tell us more:

"It's pitch dark, and you're cold, and all of a sudden the sun starts to come up. You see these silhouettes approaching, and you start to hear low, guttural sounds — you can hear them from a mile away. Then the orange sacs on their necks inflate, and they start drumming their feet extremely fast. They've got feathers that lay back on their heads, and they pop up like ears.

"They're very territorial, and they've got these imaginary lines in the sand they'll defend. And if a female should happen to go by, they'll go into a complete frenzy, they'll just go berserk. It's really something to see.

"Meanwhile, the females are checking the guys out. They'll just walk around, and a lot of times they'll just leave. The best place for the males is in the middle of the booming grounds, and the dominant birds will take that. But sometimes a male will tuck his sac under his chin and lay his feathers down and run in pretending to be a female, so they can get a better area. They try to, anyway. Usually they just get beat up by the other birds. It's pretty funny.''

To see it for yourself, watch a Nature Conservancy prairie-chicken courtship video; there are also quite a few selections on YouTube.

About 1,200 prairie chickens live in central Wisconsin, says Schwab, whose job is to increase habitat on which prairie chickens can flourish. During the festival, visitors can watch the courtship in blinds; viewers must be there by 4:30 a.m. and stay until the birds leave, usually around 7:30 or 8 a.m.

In 2009, the festival will be April 17-19. Call 715-343-6215 to reserve places in blinds at Buena Vista Wildlife Area south of Stevens Point and at Paul Olson Wildlife Area just west of Stevens Point. Also reserve space on early-morning birding tours at Buena Vista, 6-9 a.m. and 7-8:30 p.m. Saturday and 5:30-9 a.m. Sunday, and 7-9 a.m. Saturday at Mead Wildlife Area, between Stevens Point and Marshfield, where the visitors center hosts many indoor activities Saturday.

A fee of $25 includes the blind, hot breakfasts and other events. A $2 wristband covers events that include birding tours and walks, bird-banding and radio telemetry demos, wildlife-photography workshops and Sunday tours of Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.

For a complete schedule, see www.prairiechickenfestival.org. The site also lists nearby hotels, many of which offer special festival rates.

Last updated on July 2, 2008