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Mullen, Nebraska is best known for its Sandhills Sharptail Shootout and its unique sandhill’s golf course, is also a place where you’ll have the opportunity to view native wildlife in their natural setting.

Over the years, I’ve often heard the spring ritual of the Sharptail Grouse and the Prairie Chicken was something to see.

Luckily, we had the opportunity a week ago to spend a day filming the leks where these birds were dancing their heart out trying to impress the ladies.

It reminded me of what was going on in some of the places I used to hang out when I was younger. You

know what I’m referring to, where all the guys are dressed in their best trying their hardest to impress the ladies.

Our headquarters on this trip would be the Sandhills Motel in Mullen, the home of Mitch and Patty Glidden. Unlike other motels in smaller towns, the Glidden’s offer a lot more than just motel rooms. Besides the birding opportunities they also have offer canoe and tank rental with trips available down the Dismal and the Loup Rivers.

Since Prairie Chickens and Sharptail Grouse generally don’t dance or display on the same lek or dancing grounds, Mitch has several locations giving us the opportunity to film both species up close and personal.

In late fall/early spring Mitch makes numerous trips out into the Sandhills to locate the birds and their lek. Using binoculars and spotting scope, he pans the hillsides looking for signs that the birds are starting to use the area.

Once he locates the lek, he’ll move one of his school buses onto the site. By moving the bus onto the lek early in the season, the chickens and grouse will become accustomed to them, allowing birders to comfortably get a “bird’s eye” view and unbelievable photos or footage of the birds.

Our first opportunity to view the birds would be an evening shoot on a Prairie Chicken lek. Driving into the field, it was obvious that Mitch had chosen the right spot as there were already several birds milling around the outside edges.

Mitch parked the vehicle adjacent to the bus allowing us to transfer all of our gear quickly and quietly so we wouldn’t spook the birds that were already there.

Once inside, all we needed to do was to drop the window and from the comfort of the school bus, were able to view the birds out of the wind and weather.

It didn’t take long for the birds to make their appearance and when they did, they quickly staked out their territory with the older more mature birds claiming the prime spots, those where they would be the most visible to any female coming into the lek.

Once territories were staked out, the chickens guarded it, chasing off or dueling with another male that trespassed into it.

It didn’t take long for one of the younger birds to trespass onto another’s territory.

When they did, the older males’ long neck feathers would raise, at the same time, their orange cheek sacks inflated while their tail feathers fanned out as they made a headlong charge towards the intruder.

To me, it looked as if someone was going to get a whipping, but most of the time, the intruder would move out of the area before there was any violence.

If he didn’t, the birds would come face to face, make a couple of circles, maybe jump up in the air with the majority of the time simply setting down and staring at each other, saving energy when they needed to impress the females.

The noise they made while doing this was a combination of stomping of the feet, drumming and a cooing sound, it was quite a display.

It looked to me that chickens were pretty tolerant until a female appeared. You didn’t have to be an expert on birds to know when the ladies arrived as every male on the lek would bristle up, start stomping their feet doing the original chicken dance.

Then there was a lot of follow the leader, charges and mock battles until the dominant or older male chased the others off, claiming the lady for his own.

As the sun set, the chickens started leaving the lek, heading off into the sunset to feed and rest up for tomorrows activities.

The following morning, well before dawn, we were on our way to the Sharptail Grouse lek and as we approached the large yellow school bus, dark figures were already on the site, dashing back and forth chasing off the other grouse that had violated their territory.

As the sun arose, I could count at least a dozen grouse moving around the hillside, it was obvious that there were no ladies around as these birds like the chickens were pretty complacent.

Once a female appeared, the grouse brought up their tail, puffed up making themselves appear as large as possible while extending their wings to the side while stomping their feet as they went around in circles, looking much like a miniature jet coming in for a landing.

They too guarded their portion of the lek, much like the chickens did, chasing off intruders with more bluff than violence.

Both the grouse and chicken displays went on for several hours, with a lot of stomping, verbal threats and mock charges until the ladies showed up and then the pursuit was on, with the older birds leading the charge while younger birds trailed along off to the side, doing their best to impress the female and draw her away from the dominant male.

It was quite a site, seeing two of Mother Natures more beautiful birds in all their glory doing the mating dance just a few yards in front of us.

Even if you’re not into birding, this is one trip you really should make as it’s a sight to behold and one that I’ll remember for a lifetime.

There’s still time to take get out and view the spring ritual of the Sharptail Grouse and the Prairie Chicken as the dancing on the lek generally continues through May before the birds disperse heading out into the Sandhills.

For If you’d like more information call 308-546-2206 or via E-mail at pglidde@sandhillsmotel.com or on the web at www.sandhillsmotel.com/motel.html