Saturday, May 26, 2007

Do You Hear A Killdeer?


There's a very loud bird chirping sound around our home this time of year. We've heard it in the past, but this year we actually are learning about these little loud birds known as Killdeer. They are cute little things with a black and white stripe around their neck. They appear to have reddish eyes. Or maybe their eyes are just red when they see us. The unique thing about them is they lay their eggs on the ground, in the gravel, and the eggs look like rocks so they are basically totally camoflauged. When you get close to the nest the parent bird tries to distract you from the nest and will try to get you to follow it or will act like it's lame with a broken wing. Anything to get you away from the nest. It's really quite endearing. What a parent will do to keep a predator away from it's young.

I've thought a lot about these little birds this spring. We've seen a couple of the eggs hatch and we just notice 2 more eggs have been layed in the pathway to our garden. When you're here- step carefully! You never know what may lay beneath your feet.

Check out the photo. See if you can find the eggs.

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