The Killdeer Nest

While going on a walk through the bin yard recently I noticed two killdeer acting upset and knew they probably had a nest nearby.   After looking around the area and not seeing anything, the children and I walked closer to a small slough behind our house, almost immediately the male killdeer flew over and landed about 15 feet from us, chirping and fluffing his feathers to look bigger.  We started slowly toward the bird. He held his ground until we were around five feet from him (I was impressed by his bravery, even with five rambunctious loud children walking toward him he didn't back down.)  at which point he flew a short distance away giving a piercing loud call, and began dragging his left wing in the familiar killdeer behaviour.  I knew then that the nest was very close and I told the children to hold still for a minute while I walked forward looking closely at the surrounding ground.  There it was! Four camouflaged eggs lay tucked together right in front of where the killdeer had been standing. :)  

The iPad I was using to take these pictures doesn't do a great job, but you can kind of see the male killdeer in the middle of this picture. 

The nest! 

Getting a closer look. 

 The spotted eggs. 

After getting a few pictures, we quickly backed away and watched until the mother bird returned to the nest. 

In a few days I hope to walk back out and see if the eggs have hatched. Because killdeer chicks are precocial, we might have a tough time finding them, but I hope we will at least be able to see them even if it's from a distance.   Brave as they may be, we don't want to upset mom and dad killdeer too much. Lol 

I enjoy bird watching a lot.  Lately I've noticed a few Northern Flickers feeding on the  ground in the front yard, William called me today saying "Look Mom there's a duck!" turned out it was a Northern Flicker. :)  Humming birds have been fun to watch in the back yard, and for several days I was almost positive I was hearing the distinctive, almost annoying call of the cedar waxwing, but could never spot any. A few days later I looked out the living room window and sure enough there they were! They are beautiful birds. 

"O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches."  Psalm 104:24