Thursday, April 9, 2026
Leader: Shane Woolbright
Nine Audubon members and two New Mexico Nature Conservancy staff gathered in Portales at 5:00 a.m. on April 9th for a 45-minute drive south into the shinnery oak plains of eastern New Mexico. Here TNC staff Dave Hernandez had set up a blind for us to watch a lek of Lesser Prairie Chickens. Nine male Lesser Prairie Chickens arrived just as we were getting into our blinds and performed a series of struts, jumps, and calls for nearly two hours before one male flew away and the rest followed suit. The number was less than might normally occur at the lek as there were no females present indicating that most females had already selected a mate so we may have been a little late into the breeding season.
New Mexico TNC has acquired some 29,000 acres through purchase or lease of land from the New Mexico State Land Office with 50 historic lek sites on the properties. More acquisition is possible.
Sangre de Cristo Audubon has secured an opportunity to do this tour again next year. We have names of those who wished to go this year on a wait list so we’ll try to put you into a blind next year. We’ll likely try for late March or early April to insure a good number of dancers.
Thanks to Board member Bob Guenther for his help in running this tour.
Lesser Prairie Chickens (Dan O’Brien photo, Audubon digital media)
