Terrence Thompson's Photography

Above and below are photos of greater prairie chickens in early April as they did their courtship dances. The photos were taken at the Dunn Ranch near Eagleville, Mo., close to the Iowa border. The viewing blind was a great distance from the birds so photography was difficult. A long telephoto lens was used and the images were cropped tightly, all of which reduced the quality of the photos.

The Dunn Ranch is part of the Grand River Grasslands project ran by the Nature Conservancy. The conservancy is working at restoring 70,000 acres to native tallgrass prairie. The greater prairie chicken survival might depend on this work.