Boom Shek a Lek a Lek a . . .

This is a picture of a farm field in Aitkin County. You can see that in the field are a number of grayish lumps. Rocks? Clods of dirt? Frozen souveniers of the cattle that were pastured here last summer? Nope. Birds. Sharp-tailed grouse to be exact, gathered here in the middle of February to engage in what my biologist neighbor suggested is probably some sort of pre-mating behavior. Their actual mating behavior normally occurs some weeks further along in the season. That's when these boys will practice the art of seduction by hooting and hollering and stomping and inflating parts of themselves in a crazy and beautiful effort to pass their sharp-tailed genes along to a new generation of dancing birds.