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In April, biologists at the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge a 10,000-acre stretch of tallgrass prairie an hour west of Houston, Texas went out into the meadows in search of prairie-chickens. The spring breeding season was in full swing. Male Attwater’s Prairie-Chickens gathered in makeshift arenas called leks, their inflatable airsacs vivid on their chests and their booming calls and stamping dances carrying over the brush to watching females.
As the team counted birds, their surprise and delight grew. By the end of the official 2021 count, they’d spotted a combined 89 males at the refuge and on private lands where the species has been reintroduced, suggesting a wild population of at least 178 birds. The count was an improvement of 18 males over the 71 tallied the year before.