A chicken-like bird of about 36cm in length, the greater prairie chicken likes to live in undisturbed tall grass prairies. It ranges from the northern United States, through the Great Plains to Oklahoma and also the coastal prairies of Texas.

Once found from the Atlantic Coast west to Wyoming, the Greater Prairie Chicken has been exterminated from much of this vast range through the destruction of the undisturbed prairies on which it breeds.

Where they still survive, greater prairie chickens perform striking courtship dances: the males strut about and stamp their feet, meanwhile uttering a deep cooing call that may be heard a mile away. They leap and whirl in the air and threaten each other by short runs with tail raised, head down, and feather tufts erected.