After another early start – made even harder by losing an hour when we crossed the State line – we were in the ‘hide’, overlooking the lek, well before it got light. Their distinctive ‘popping’ call rang out long before we could see them and then, as the dawn broke, up to 18 male Lesser Prairie-Chicken – the last of the ‘Big Six’ firmly on our list and the end of our ‘Chicken Run’ experience! There are several ways you can see these amazing Mid-West – Grouse & Chickens specialities. If you are prepared to pay for the full treatment there are a number of top quality tour groups who do the trip – FieldGuides being one example, with the possibility of our own Norfolk Megan in the lead. Or you can organise your own itinerary, stopping off at individual lek hides – though booking from the UK is difficult and some are uber expensive. We’ve seen ‘lex experiences’ with (obligatory) overnight home-stays for $750pp! Alternatively you can do it like us – all self-arranged and using, where possible, public viewing locations. The only exception being Lesser Prairie-Chicken which, because of the dwindling population and all leks being on private property, you have to book an organised viewing. We chose the one organised by Nature Conservancy but even so it was $150pp – with no extras provided! Greater & Lesser P-C look very similar and with the added complication of hybridisation you have to be at a lek to be sure of your identification. With our expert on hand, we were able to study individual birds in good light and, most importantly, listen to their distinctive vocalisations. The two hybrid birds present at our lek certainly sounded very different from either Greater or Lesser – there are also some marginal plumage differences. With the minor upset over Dusky Grouse, we have had a near clean sweep. With just under a week still to go we’ve now tweaked our itinerary to concentrate on early migrants, including those pesky sparrows – we’ve added three new ones today!