|
Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri River, flanked by grasslands called prairies by the French, just as the annual spectacular courtship and mating rituals of the greater prairie chicken would have ended. During the early 1800s, the chicken’s booming sounds echoed across America’s vast prairies. Male prairie chickens would spread their wings and tail feathers, inflate the orange sacs on either side of their neck, strut and make a deep, haunting “booming” sound.
The plentiful greater prairie chicken once numbered more than a million. Early settlers — who favored their meat — hunted prairie chickens by the wagonload. As prairies became farmland, these birds lost precious habitat and nearly disappeared.
Dubbed one of the “Unlucky 13” grassland birds by the Conservancy, prairie chickens now are imperiled in much of the United States. The three recognized subspecies of prairie chickens differ dramatically in status.
- Heath hen is extinct.
- Attwater's greater prairie chicken is critically endangered and can only be found on two small sites on the Gulf Coast of Texas.
- The greater prairie chicken reasonably abundant in four states, but is extinct or in danger of extinction in 15 states.
|
In Their Own Words... |
|
“From the top of the highest of those mounds I had an extensive view of the surrounding plains, which afforded one of the most pleasing prospects I ever beheld: under me a beautiful river of clear water about 80-yards wide, meandering through a level and extensive meadow as far as I could see."
~ Clark, talking about the grassland landscape where prairie chickens once thrived | | There still are rare, unspoiled places, like Dunn Ranch in Missouri, where these animals perform their booming mating rituals and exist as they did in Lewis and Clark’s time. Each spring, people flock to Conservancy preserves to witness this rare mating dance.
Greater prairie chickens also find much-needed habitat in Minnesota — one of the few places in America where stable populations of this bird exist. Their booming calls still rock the plains at the Conservancy’s 4,199-acre Bluestem Prairie Scientific and Natural Area. | 
