Ramblings

Another sage grouse from yesterday. This one shows the inflated esophageal sac. From Animal Diversity Web:

“The display of male Sage grouse consists of struts and tail-fanning. Also, he will inflate his esophageal sac and display the olive-green gular sacs concealed under his feathers. Another component of the display is when the male flaps his drawn wings to make a “brushing” sound and releases air from his esophageal sac to make a “plopping noise” (sounding like a large rock dropped into deep water).”

I was having a hard time trying to describe the noises they make, but the above description is pretty apt. There were 30+ birds making those sounds, so it was incredible to hear.

Bob Smith was nice enough to invite me along to photograph sage grouse at a lek near Pinedale. Even though we were there at 6:30 this morning, we were still a little late as we flushed some when we were getting set up. It was amazing to watch and listen as the birds displayed and strutted around the lek. We had about half an hour of good light before the birds abruptly flew off.

I rambled south to the Snake River Canyon today. My hope was to find mountain goats. There was definitely a good number out and about, but the majority of them were in a not very photogenic area. Luckily I spotted this nanny and her kid who were browsing and resting among small cliffs.