Photo: Iowa Department of Natural Resources
(Ringgold County, IA) -- Male prairie chickens hoping to impress female prairie chickens will be sparring and making booming noises this weekend. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will hold a viewing event tomorrow (Saturday) at the Kellerton Wildlife area in southern Iowa's Ringgold County. The birds are most active at sunrise. Visitors may also see the birds dancing and sparring, and making a lot of noise at sunset.
The DNR has not held the viewing event since before the pandemic, activities originate from the viewing platform on 300th Avenue, southwest of Kellerton.
DNR wildlife biologist Stephanie Sheperd says the annual ritual begins as early as mid-March and lasts through April. Male prairie chickens meet at the booming grounds every morning to display, spar and fight with other males trying to catch the eye of the females watching nearby.
“They will be out there until 8 or so, when they begin to slow down,” said Shepherd.
She says the chickens will display each morning regardless of the weather. The area has an elevated viewing platform to help see all the action.
“Some mornings you can hear them and some you can’t. They are out there every day, but are less active if it’s raining or really cloudy,” she said. While there will be some spotting scopes available to use, attendees are encouraged to bring their own or a set of binoculars.
The prairie chicken population at Kellerton has benefited from a collaboration between the states of Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska, and the Nature Conservancy, Blank Park Zoo and the Ringgold County Conservation Board. The collaboration extended to area producers who help to manage 30 percent of the grasslands through grazing.
“There has been a lot of collaboration to improve the landscape across the state line to recreate 160,000 acres of rolling hills of grass with few trees,” Shepherd said. “This partnership benefits not only the prairie chicken, but other grassland species as well.”
One grassland species in particular, the Henslow’s sparrow, has benefited from this partnership. The Henslow’s sparrow is listed as a state threatened species in Iowa but the population at Kellerton is so large the area has been recognized as globally important for this species.