Greater Prairie Chicken


Posted by David Salem on Tue Sep 03, 2019 3:45 pm

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My good buddy and I decided to head to the central plains of the United Stated this spring to shoot Greater Chickens on the lek. 
A lek is typically an open area that these grouse use to strut and display for the right to mate with the females.
We were very fortunate and timed the trip at the perfect time and right in-between storms. Definitely not always the case!
It was lots of fun sitting in our vehicle watching their antics and and fighting. Lots of cool vocalizing too.
This is a male that I caught with a nice background as he left the lek. Hope you like him

D5---600mm---f4.5---ss1/3200th---ISO800---Handheld from car---35% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input.  I appreciate it.

Please click on the image to view the larger more detailed file. Thanks

David
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by SantaFeJoe on Tue Sep 03, 2019 4:22 pm
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A beautiful and rare image! Finding it in good light with a great BG makes for a fabulous opportunity. Well captured.

Joe
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by KK Hui on Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:47 pm
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Superbly executed, David!
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by Ron Day on Tue Sep 03, 2019 10:53 pm
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Wonderful flight shot with excellent detail, David. Very nicely done!
 

by david fletcher on Wed Sep 04, 2019 7:38 am
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Wow! So cool David. congratulations
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by Karl Egressy on Wed Sep 04, 2019 7:54 am
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Excellent flight shot with attractive background, David.
 

by Carol Clarke on Wed Sep 04, 2019 3:09 pm
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Beautiful pose (calling too) , superb detail, colour and light, and lovely background.  Everything came together for this one, David, and you captured it with your wonderful flair and expertise.  What a treat!  :)

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by sirianul on Wed Sep 04, 2019 5:18 pm
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Very nice picture. I was at the lek in Colorado last spring and is a real pleasure to which these birds at the lek. Your picture is beautiful in special that is very difficult to have this birds in flight.

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by Gene Gwin on Wed Sep 04, 2019 5:59 pm
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David, This is superb. Wish it was mine!
 

by David J. Bogener on Wed Sep 04, 2019 6:02 pm
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Perfect!
 

by David Salem on Wed Sep 04, 2019 7:02 pm
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Thanks so much everyone!! Glad you like it :)
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by Paul Rossi on Wed Sep 04, 2019 9:10 pm
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Great take-off image. I imagine they are like Sharp-tailed Grouse, which take off without warning - very difficult to be ready and react.
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by David Salem on Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:28 am
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Paul Rossi wrote:Great take-off image.  I imagine they are like Sharp-tailed Grouse, which take off without warning - very difficult to be ready and react.
Thanks Paul,

Yes they are very similar to Sharp-tail grouse and they are actually found in the same fields that we see the chickens in. Yes it is very hard to predict when they are going to take off, and when they finally do, they are pretty darn fast, so a definite challenge to capture them in flight.  We got a lot of beautiful strutting, displaying and fighting shots but my goal was to try to get a flight shot of this species. I shot over 3000 frames and managed to get two nice flight frames.
Pretty low odds but it was worth the effort :)

Thanks again 
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by David Salem on Thu Sep 05, 2019 12:30 am
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Thanks to the moderators and editors for choosing my image. I am honored
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by Debapratim Saha on Thu Sep 05, 2019 2:58 am
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killer flight image as usual David!!
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by Frank Schauf on Thu Sep 05, 2019 9:11 am
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Great flight pose and BG. Well captured.
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by Axel Hildebrandt on Sat Sep 07, 2019 2:43 pm
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Very cool moment, details and BG, David!
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by Jan Wegener on Sun Sep 08, 2019 8:35 am
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wow, amazing flight shot David
 

by tinyfishy on Sun Sep 15, 2019 8:52 am
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That's a beauty.
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