WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:26.560 Usually, we start at about four o'clock in the morning. 00:26.560 --> 00:32.720 After the cover of darkness, wildlife biologist Nancy Crystal drives north from her home base 00:32.720 --> 00:36.840 in Spooner to the Nama Kagan Barren's wildlife area. 00:36.840 --> 00:40.840 We want to be on site at least 45 minutes before sunlight this morning. 00:40.840 --> 00:45.340 Oh my gosh, it was barely in time. 00:45.340 --> 00:51.440 Barely a heartbeat before the landscape begins a wild awakening. 00:51.440 --> 01:00.800 Long before she sees them in the moonlight, she can hear subtle tremors on the prairie. 01:00.800 --> 01:07.240 It's a beautiful day. 01:07.240 --> 01:11.960 Sharped out grouse are pretty rare species in Wisconsin. 01:11.960 --> 01:19.960 Nancy bears witness to an ancient rhythm as old as the natural world. 01:19.960 --> 01:29.480 It's an intricate courtship dance from one of our state's most unique birds. 01:29.480 --> 01:33.840 All the guys pipe each other up and we start dancing around and puffing out their nice 01:33.840 --> 01:35.840 purple sack. 01:35.840 --> 01:41.160 They put their pointy white tail up in the air and then they stick out their nice orange 01:41.160 --> 01:42.160 eyebrow. 01:42.160 --> 01:47.400 And their goal is to do the best dance. 01:47.400 --> 01:53.320 I love the dance, so to have a bird that really has some good steps and can bring some 01:53.320 --> 01:58.440 liveliness to the grounds, I think that that is pretty cool. 01:58.440 --> 02:07.480 The male grouse are the only dancers and they work the prairie floor to attract females. 02:07.480 --> 02:10.800 The females seem to act like, ah, no big deal. 02:10.800 --> 02:12.280 I'm not even looking at you on it. 02:12.280 --> 02:15.640 Of course they're watching and they're paying attention. 02:15.640 --> 02:20.800 The champions of the grassland hold their dancing duel in a prairie location called 02:20.800 --> 02:21.800 a lek. 02:21.800 --> 02:27.880 The arts had 22 males on it and 60 males that came this morning, but of all those males 02:27.880 --> 02:35.040 you just get one lucky guy and that one lucky guy is the only one that is going to be sharing 02:35.040 --> 02:37.720 its genes out in the world. 02:37.720 --> 02:45.560 Each spring in the pre-dawn chill, Nancy and her team do a survey of sharp-tailed grouse. 02:45.560 --> 02:51.600 The reason we do it is to really keep track of what we have for a population of what is 02:51.600 --> 02:55.520 really a rare species. 02:55.520 --> 02:59.840 She counts the birds and looks for expansion of traditional mating grounds. 02:59.840 --> 03:04.560 So the sharp-tailed grouse I think are really cool. 03:04.560 --> 03:09.880 The females come and visit, they fly up into the trees, they run along the edge, so it's 03:09.880 --> 03:14.440 really tough to be counting the females. 03:14.440 --> 03:20.480 For more than 26 years, Nancy has brought her passion for wildlife to the Department 03:20.480 --> 03:28.440 of Natural Resources, her job to manage this ecosystem, ensuring all native species can 03:28.440 --> 03:32.080 thrive and survive in this sanctuary. 03:32.080 --> 03:37.040 I come to work and I know that I have habitat that needs to be maintained and I have species 03:37.040 --> 03:38.720 that need to be managed. 03:38.720 --> 03:46.320 So for me a great day is when I'm able to go out and see the benefits of all the work 03:46.320 --> 03:53.880 that we do to manage the property and have it for the public to come and view the sharp 03:53.880 --> 03:54.880 tails. 03:54.880 --> 03:57.800 That is a really good day. 03:57.800 --> 04:03.200 Nancy's workplace is a wildlife area filled with the desolate beauty that you will not 04:03.200 --> 04:06.160 find anywhere else on the planet. 04:06.160 --> 04:10.840 It is true that this is the only place in the world that you can go and find pine oak 04:10.840 --> 04:13.180 barrens in these Northwest sands. 04:13.180 --> 04:22.120 It also is a globally rare habitat type and it's got such a diversity of grasses and 04:22.120 --> 04:25.520 flowers and shrubs. 04:25.520 --> 04:30.840 Nancy has a deep connection to this untamed wilderness and the creatures that inhabit 04:30.840 --> 04:31.840 it. 04:31.840 --> 04:37.880 Never have seen a show like this when I first moved. 04:37.880 --> 04:42.480 They might be thinking about leaving. 04:42.480 --> 04:47.720 Pretty cool aren't they? 04:47.720 --> 04:51.960 Get satisfaction out of my job. 04:51.960 --> 04:58.080 When I go home to my family I can go home happy but I had a good day and just feel as 04:58.080 --> 05:04.000 though I'm making a difference even if it's a small little thing like that just makes 05:04.000 --> 05:06.240 me feel good all the time. 05:06.240 --> 05:12.080 Reclaiming this unusual landscape is a job both rich in research and rewards and that 05:12.080 --> 05:15.680 is Nancy's core motivation. 05:15.680 --> 05:20.520 When they're dancing and everything they end up just kind of losing feathers here and 05:20.520 --> 05:23.080 there and then we can use that for genetics. 05:24.080 --> 05:28.320 If you're going to do something in life every day you should be something that's fun and 05:28.320 --> 05:29.320 enjoyable. 05:29.320 --> 05:31.880 It's a cool looking one. 05:31.880 --> 05:34.080 Those kinds of things are pretty great.