Once again, I find it more important to get a few more minutes of sleep than to write a decent entry here. So this will be brief.

Checked three leks this morning. We've gotten to the point where almost every lek that is left to check is well over an hour's drive away, but still managed to get to the first one right at sunrise (exactly 06:00).

Found a whopping 91 cocks on the meadow. A record high, except for the report from the ranch manager who found 94 a couple weeks ago. Guess he was right.

Second lek probably isn't really a lek anymore. Haven't seen birds on it for at least ten years. But still I spend the eight to ten minutes it takes to divert a mile up the road to check the site.

Empty again. Except for the pronghorn buck, who seems to be there every year. Wonder if he wonders about the truck that drives up once every year, and then turns around?

Third lek also had a record high count. Seventy-four cocks.

'Course, you have to stand on top of the cab of your truck to see that many, since they strut in fairly tall sage. Sitting in the cab I could only see 44.

Got to the final lek just in time. Seven minutes after we arrived, they started flushing off, the strut done for the day. Before they left, though, I counted yet another record high.

105.

Wow.

And yeah, I had to sneak up onto the top of the cab for that count, too.

After waiting for most of the hundred and five to leave, we took a not-so-leisurely route out of the foothills back to the highway. What is rapidly becoming my wildflower route. And yeah, most of 'em are teeny tiny little things. And I got pictures to share of some of those. But tonight, I'm posting one of the larger ones.

Indian paintbrush.

Not a lot out there, but each blossom showed up like red neon in the fields of grey turning to green.