Sage grouse on display at Conservancy site

As the sun creeps up over the foothills, the pointed, bulbous forms of the birds appear, rising above the woody desert plants for which they are named.

One stands up, then another. Soon the lek, or breeding ground, fills in with about 40 sage grouse. Most are males. All hope to reel in a mate. Their seductive showmanship includes inflating air sacs on their chest, displaying a spiky tail and a three-step strut.

And there’s the sound.

Bahh-doop. Bahh-doop.

Like in a bar, harmless and feathery skirmishes occasionally break out. Biologists say the ladies tend to gravitate toward one dominant guy on the lek.

That was the case Saturday morning at The Nature Conservancy’s Crooked Creek Ranch, about 20 miles west of Dubois, Idaho.

The annual mating show, best seen in April, continues at traditional leks despite ever-encroaching construction and energy development on their sagebrush habitat.

Watch a live stream of a sage grouse lek in central Oregon at bit.ly/LekCam2016.