Prairie Chickens: Dancing at Dawn A noisy lawnmower. Someone dropping a bowling ball on the forest floor. The "burping" sound you get by cupping your armpits. Strange sounds! And this time of year, they could be coming from birds! Male grouse and prairie chickens are starting their mating displays in many places throughout the continent. These relatives of farm chickens are all large, tasty birds. Prairie chickens attract coyotes, foxes, hawks, and owls, so they are very secretive. But some of them have spectacular displays very early in the morning—before it's light enough for most predators to be out. Many of them produce weird or eerie sounds by pumping air. Listen: Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) Listen to prairie chicken drumming on Kansas Prairie Contributed by Ken Highfill's students,Lawrence High School, Lawrence, Kansas   In the prairie states, prairie chickens are now "booming." They inflate colorful air sacs on the sides of their throat and beneath their "eyebrows" and produce a low sound that is similar to blowing air over an empty soda bottle. Sharp-tailed Grouse, from the prairie provinces and northern prairie states, inflate purple throat airsacs and thump their feet so hard on the ground that they sound like a noisy lawn mower starting up. Sage Grouse, living in sagebrush areas of the plains, have a fascinating yet funny display: inflating huge airsacs on their chests. When going about their normal daily business, all of these birds deflate their colorful air sacs, which stay fairly hidden beneath their feathers so the birds can be camouflaged to hide from predators. Prairie chickens and some grouse gather on traditional display grounds year after year. These gathering places are called "leks." In some places people have built wooden blinds where kids or adults can watch without scaring the birds away. (Call your state or province's department of natural resources to find out if any of these species have a display area near you, and how you can arrange to watch.) Ruffed Grouse "drum" in forests and woods throughout most of Canada and the northern states. They make a deep "thump thump thump" sound that starts slow and speeds up, as if someone were dropping a bowling ball on the forest floor. This sound is made by cupping air in their "wingpits." Have you ever made a sound by cupping air in your armpits? When you hear a drumming grouse, it's possible to sneak up for a better look. Make sure you're wearing waterproof boots, because forest soil is wet and muddy in spring. Listen hard to figure out what direction the sound is coming from. Move toward the grouse while it is drumming, and between drumming hold still and be quiet. Look on the ground for fallen logs: the grouse sits very still between drumming activities, and blends in very well. Just before it begins drumming, it sometimes inflates its throat, making the "ruff" feathers stick out, and then pulls its body erect and starts beating its wings. Try This! Journaling Question Why do you think the mating calls of prairie chickens and grouse are deep and low, rather than high-pitched? Stop to write your ideas, then compare with ours. Copyright 2004 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form