Booming season is just over, guys... Those chickens were out there doing their thing, pumping up their yellow neck patches and calling out their mates. "Love is in the air", as they say and now it's time for baby prairie-chicks to thrive. When I first read their latin name, I honestly burst out laughing. I could not imagine Linnaeus checking this bird out and being “yo, this is the most romantic animal I’ve ever seen, imma call it cupido”. Hilarious, right? It does have a reason, though. Apparently, its erectile neck feathers are similar to Cupid’s wings. Similarly, their mating ritual is what they’re famous for. A small town in Minnesota actually adopted Mr. Matchmaker here as their official animal and built the biggest Greater prairie-chicken statue in the whole wide world. To be fair, I don’t believe the competition is very fierce. The statue portrays an adult male, because only them have the inflatable yellow patches to woo the ladies. These fierce territorial boomers mainly feed on seeds and fruits, but they can also eat some insects, if it comes to that. Our love-chickens were actually widespread across the United States, populating the prairies by the thousands. Alas, like many other bird stories we tell here, their numbers have massively dropped due to habitat loss (over 95% of prairies in the US have been turned into agricultural lands) and hunting. During the 19th century, you could see those chickens everywhere, dude. It went from huge population to near extinction in the 1930’s. They are also challenged by the introduction of exotic predators and nest competitors, like the Common Pheasant. Since we’re talking about nests, once the booming season is successfully concluded, the hens lay 5 to 17 eggs that take a bit over 3 weeks to hatch. Our chick Boomers reach sexual maturity around the age of 1, when the booming cycle starts again. By the way, if you live in the states, you can check out their display around sunset time between late March and April!
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