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It was about 5:00 a.m.; the moon was still up and students’ boots left prints in the frosted grass as they walked the approximately quarter mile to the blinds.

It was about 5:00 a.m.; the moon was still up and students’ boots left prints in the frosted grass as they walked the approximately quarter mile to the blinds. For the entire month of April the Prairie Chicken Project watched prairie chickens do their mating dances on the Buena Vista Marsh. The stu dents gather population and copulation surveys for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The students carpooled to the marsh, and a guide took the volunteer to the blinds. One type of blind was made of plywood and tied to t-posts driven into the ground so they would not blow away in high winds. Another type of blind looks like a camouflaged dome tent and has many small holes in its walls to peep through. Once in the blind, the vol unteers, Michelle Loewe, T.J. Hauge and I, sat quietly on the low wooden bench wait ing, waiting, waiting. In time the light from the rising sun showed through the cracks.

When the guide, that day Jeremiah Heise, president of the student chapter of The Wildlife Society, heard the male prairie chickens begin their “booming” soon after the sun rose, he signaled for the peepholes to be opened.

The male prairie chickens cluck, chatter and boom to attract a female chicken. The male stretches its body straight out with its head down, tail feathers flared and standing straight up and wings slight ly spread out and puffs out its orange “cheeks” and eye lids. All the while he stomps the ground with his feet and moves in a small circle back and forth.

If two males come close to each other on their respective leks they sometimes peck at each other or jump straight up three feet in the air trying to intimidate each other. If a female prairie chicken comes too close to a lek, the male will attempt to copulate with her. Hiese records these observa tions on data forms. As the morning wears on and the mating activities subside, the guide leaves the blind and flushes the birds while the other volunteers count them. Their numbers are also record ed.

Hauge is a senior wildlife student and was recently hired by the WDNR to radio track the prairie chickens for the summer. In recent years the WDNR has translocated prai rie chickens from northwest ern Minnesota to bolster the genetic variation. Hauge says it is a combined effort of the Minnesota DNR, Wisconsin DNR and a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Hauge’s job is to set up cage-like traps that funnel the chickens into them. They hope to capture more hens than males and radio collar them. Hauge will be gather ing data on nesting habits and the success rates of eggs hatched from those that are laid. Comparisons will be made between the local birds and that of the Minnesota trans located birds.

Hauge will gather this infor mation by driving around and track ing birds with radio telemetry equipped trucks. When he gets close he then takes a hand held anten nae and receiver, and walks in on the birds to see if they have been attacked by skunks, raccoons or have survived. When the eggs hatch he begins night trapping using nets. Chicks that are five to six weeks will be radio col lared, probably in August. In this way their dispersal pat terns and survival rates can be checked.

If you want to know more about the Prairie Chicken Project or become a co-lead er contact the present leader Jeremiah Hiese through The Wildlife Society.