Hi. just an update, the baby killdeer have all hatched and are running
around with mom. All 4 hatched last weekend sometime. Looks like
Evelyn and Theresa are now grandmothers to 4 healthy baby killdeer.
Mothers Unite
The other day, a couple of local women came across two birds acting in a way not often observed. Evelyn Christie and Theresa Gillis were walking along a new strawberry field of Barb and Sid Taylors, just checking that the new plants were coming along as planned. All of a sudden, two small birds showed up and began to get close to the women. One would lay on the ground in a position such as it had a broken wing and could not fly. Then it would crawl along the ground slowly getting farther away from the girls. If they got closer it would fly away. The other was chirping loudly and passing back and forth. This interested them and later Theresa tried to find the bird in the bird book we have home. She found it, the killdeer. Certainly not as vicious bird as the name suggested.
The Killdeer is a common bird in our area and lays its eggs in open country usually on gravel. They can be found on riverbanks to open pasture to strawberry fields. Being open sounds like they are very exposed to predators such as gulls, snakes or fox etc.. The behavior the killdeer were exhibiting on the day the girls saw them was purely a parenting instinct. The birds will pretend to be hurt, thus luring the potential threat away from the nest. If they chase the birds, the nest will not be found. The eggs are very small and brownish in color and look very much like rocks. So, if ever you observe some of natures creatures acting like they are injured, they MAY be protecting their young, just like we humans would do. (If you look carefully, you can see the nest to the left of the bird)
