Watch sage grouse strut dance, live online

The greater sage – grouse ‘s strutting dance is one ofNorth America’sdefining wildlife spectacles, and one that few Americans have ever seen – until now.

Now, anew live-streaming video project supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy is offering thepublic a chance to see this amazing display without having to sneak out into the sage brush in the frigid half-light before dawn.

Instead, theperformance can now be enjoyed, coffee in hand, from the comfort of home by visiting nature.org.The best viewing times are between 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. PST .

The lek cam is an unobtrusive camera designed to capture the intimate details of the sage – grouse ‘s unique mating rituals.

For hundreds of thousands of years, male sage – grouse have gathered at traditional breeding grounds called leks, to puff out their chests and fan their tail feathers in an effort to attract females.

This camera, located on a ranch in south-central Oregon, offers a glimpse at dozens of males who will gather as the sun rises on the sage brush steppe to display their fancy dancing.

To avoid disturbing these extremely sensitive birds, the cameras illuminate the lek with infrared light, which birds aren’t able to see. Watch for other wildlife such as mule deer, elk, sandhill cranes, eagles and so much more who might pass by the bird camera.

Each spring, fish and wildlife biologists count lekking sage grouse across their 165 million-acre, 11-state range .

Greater sage – grouse once occupied more than 290 million acres of sage brush in the West, but the bird has lost more than half of its range due to habitat loss and fragmentation from development, noxious weeds and fire.

The deteriorating health of western sage brush landscapes has sparked an unprecedented and proactive partnership across the 11 states to conserve the uniquely North American ecosystem that supports iconic wildlife, outdoor recreation, ranching and other traditional land uses.

More information on the greater sage – grouse and ongoing collaborative work to conserve the sage brush landscape is available at: http://www.fws.gov/greatersagegrouse/