CHEYENNE — With warmer weather and greener landscapes, April is one of the best months of the year to view sage-grouse on their leks in Wyoming.

The sage-grouse is the largest species of grouse in North America. Each spring male sage-grouse performs an elaborate sunrise display on communal breeding grounds known as leks. While sage-grouse require sagebrush landscapes to survive, leks are often located in open areas where the males can be better seen and heard by females. 

“The dramatic display makes viewing sage-grouse a popular recreational activity during the spring across much of Wyoming,” said Nyssa Whitford, sage grouse biologist for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. “This year’s conditions are mostly dry across the state. We may still receive spring storms so be vigilant, watch the weather and pick a string of dry, clear mornings for your lek visit this year.” 

To guide your lek outings, Game and Fish launched the Sage-Grouse Lek Viewing Guide to take you to the best publicly-accessible viewing locations across Wyoming. The guide provides directions to each lek location.

Game and Fish urges individuals when viewing to:

• Arrive at lek sites at least one hour before sunrise.
• Park away from the edge of the lek. Do not drive onto the lek. 
• Turn off vehicle lights and engine.
• Use binoculars and spotting scopes to observe birds.
• Stay in your vehicle.
• Avoid making loud noises or sudden movements.
• Let the birds leave before you do.
• Leave pets at home.
• Respect private land and do not trespass. 
• Postpone your visit if roads are muddy.

“Late-April is a good time to visit because most of the breeding is complete, but the males are still actively strutting. The weather is usually better, too,” Whitford said.

Wyoming has a long history of sage-grouse conservation, and was the first state to implement a statewide conservation strategy for the species. Through partnerships with landowners, other state and federal agencies and conservation organizations, Game and Fish has worked to balance land use with conservation efforts and help protect and restore sage-grouse populations throughout the state. For more information on our conservation efforts, please visit our sage-grouse management page. 

—WGFD—

Inside Akal Travel Center, a 24-hour truck stop on Wyoming’s high plains, the smells of sizzling garlic and earthy curry powder permeate the air. It’s a gray, windy day in late January, and Ediquis Brown has parked his rig at the fuel station off Interstate 80, about 20 miles from downtown Laramie, Wyoming. He walks past aisles stocked with candy bars and kitschy souvenirs to the checkout counter, where he orders without even looking at the faded whiteboard menu. His go-to: tandoori chicken, garlic naan, one mango lassi, and two cups of creamy chai.

Based out of Fort Lauderdale, Brown travels east to west every week in his 18-wheeler, often driving up to 11-hour shifts and eating in his vehicle to stay on schedule. He is one of the dozens of motorists who come to Akal each day for house-made batches of beautifully blistered naan, golden-hued butter chicken, and biryani bejeweled with carrots and peas.

“We attract customers with the cheapest diesel—and the food,” says Gurjot Singh, who has been the truck stop’s manager since 2014, just two years after owners Mintu Pandher and his wife, Amandeep, bought the property. All 10 of their employees relocated to Laramie from the Punjab state of northwest India and now reside in a housing complex behind the gas station.