Killdeer

These funny little field birds scratch their nests out in the most rocky, dry place they can find. Sometimes it seems that the more hard and uncomfortable the terrain, the better they like it. The mothers are very skittish. She will run away from the nest and start her high pitched calling as soon as anything comes near. If she thinks something is really threatening the eggs she will go into her "broken leg" dance to try and draw it away from the nest. It's funny to watch.

The call is pretty annoying especially if there are multiple birds in a field. I think it's kind of touching that she would try to draw the predator to her rather than saving herself.

This one has built her home near my cousin's warehouse. I was unable to catch her actually on the nest with the zoom lens. I may go back and try again.

These were actually taken yesterday.


You could really step on these guys, they are so well camouflaged:


She's on the nest but you can hardly tell because it was with the regular lens and looks so far away. Do you see her way back there by the pink flag?