The bird above is not your typical charismatic species. It\u2019s no bald eagle, no peregrine falcon.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a groundbird known as the lesser prairie-chicken that lives in the southern Great Plains. It\u2019s not even the greater prairie-chicken, another, related avian species, that\u2019s a bit larger.<\/p>\n
Today, however, this bird is very much worth paying attention to.<\/p>\n
In 2023, lesser prairie-chickens \u2014 which are actually fascinating birds, not least for their ridiculous mating rituals \u2014 were granted protection under the Endangered Species Act, the country\u2019s strongest wildlife law. Scientists say this protection is justified: The population of lesser prairie-chickens has crashed since the last century from hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of birds to roughly 30,000 today.<\/p>\n
Now the Trump administration is trying to axe those extinction-thwarting protections. In a motion filed earlier this month in a Texas court, the administration argued that federal officials made an error when listing prairie-chickens under the Endangered Species Act. The listing \u2014 which makes it illegal to kill or harm the birds, with a number of exceptions \u2014 should be tossed out, the administration said.<\/p>\n
The move isn\u2019t totally unexpected. Prairie-chickens overlap in some areas with oil and gas drilling. And President Donald Trump has signaled that he will prioritize drilling over environmental safeguards.<\/p>\n
Yet it reveals that his administration will take extreme steps to undo wildlife protections if they stand in the way of his agenda. If his administration is successful in delisting the bird, it will signal that no endangered species is safe \u2014 especially those, like these chickens, that happen to live where fossil fuels are buried.<\/p>\n
Male lesser prairie-chickens are extremely extra.<\/p>\n
Each spring, they come together in breeding grounds called leks to dance for females, hoping to attract them as mates. They inflate large sacs on their neck, flare yellow combs above their eyes, and raise wing-like feathers behind their heads. Then they stomp their feet and start booming, producing a noise that sounds like sped-up yodeling. (These are not to be confused with the greater sage-grouse, a bird in the same family that has a similarly spectacular display.)<\/p>\n