Prairie venture

My friend, Sandy, and I have done some exploring locally. We wandered thru the Pioneer Cemetery and looked at the gravestones. Many dated from the late 1800's and early 1900's. Pioneers had a hard life, coming to this wild land, building homes and communities.
A few days later we visited Eleven-mile State Park. The lake was still frozen and people were out there ice fishing. The north side of the lake is open dry grasslands. We hiked on the south side with Spruce trees looking like they had endured mountain winds, and many large granite boulders. I couldn't resist climbing some of them. Photos on the next posting.
Friday I drove south to the SE corner of the state, and into Kansas. The strong windstorm had blown over and the weather looked good. Saturday morning while the sky was still dark, I drove into Cimarron National Grasslands following directions to a lek. One car was already parked at the end of the road. We carried our 'scopes into the small viewing blind, and watched as the darkness slowly gave way to light. 6 Lesser Prairie Chickens were walking and displaying on their dancing grounds, the lek.
They erect black head feathers to look like horns, puff out orange air sacs on their necks, and raise yellow combs on their heads. Tail wagging, bowing, and jumping are also part of the display. It was exciting to watch them. Before sunrise 4 of the 6 flew away, as there were no females to be impressed with their dance moves. There was not enough light for my little camera to take photos.
I drove north thru the Grasslands listening to Western Meadowlarks and Horned Larks. A few Red Tailed Hawks sat on phone poles.
Photos of Deer that walk thru Sandy's yard often, and I finally found some pussy Willow catkins.