ON THE LIFE LIST: An unprecedented effort to keep the greater sage grouse off the endangered species list rallies an unlikely army of allies

摘要

IN THE PITCH BLACK OF AN EARLY APRIL MORNING, cooing and popping sounds fill the windless air. The first gray light of dawn slowly illuminates about 30 male greater sage grouse strutting on a circle of muddy ground in Oregon's high desert. Each spreads its tail feathers in a broad fan. The source of the pops is two yellow, balloonlike air sacs that, as they inflate, emerge from a cushion of white breast feathers and slap emphatically together. The sage grouse conducts one of the bird world's most dramatic courting rituals. It takes place each spring on thousands of leks—a kind of sage grouse dance hall—across 11 Western states, from Colorado, Wyoming and the Dakotas westward to California, Oregon and Washington.