Greater Prairie-Chickens

3 of 16 (15 males) on a lek in a cornfield in central Fillmore County

Not near any large areas of grass

24 May 2004

This species is considered a casual winter visitor and is thought to be extirpated as a breeder from the Eastern Rainwater Basin, but this discovery raises some intriguing questions.  Are these birds a freak occurrence?, the remaining remnants of a large population?, or pioneering birds from an expanding population elsewhere (if so is the species slowly adapting to modern agriculture?)?, or displaced birds?