The motel I stayed at in Harrisburg, IL. had a lot of dead space around it.....empty fields, puddles, scrubby area. At the end of their parking lot was a small area of gravel near the edge of a field and of course I went exploring with my camera :-) Right off I saw a Killdeer and it kept acting in ways that led me to believe that she had a nest there somewhere. Sure enough......right in this little strip of gravel was a nest with 3 eggs!
She did not want me around and went into all sorts of flutterings and distracting maneuvers to make me go away, but I managed to get a few pictures. I didn't want to upset her too much.
She was upset here and hovering over the nest, so I went away and left her alone. I hope that you can pull this picture up larger beacause she really has pretty feathers when you look closely. I've got this picture on my desktop right now ....full screen it looks great!I was really worried about her, because at night huge work trucks would park at that end of the parking lot and run their back wheels off into the gravel! I didn't want to tell people she was there, but at the same time I was worried they would get the trucks too close. Fortunately she was smart enough to put her nest just slightly out of line with the end of the parking lot and was about 20 feet from where they parked......so I kept my mouth shut figuring if she could hide in plain sight, I shouldn't point her out.
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8 comments:
Awesome shots! I just love the Killdeer, I think they are such a beautiful bird! The eggs shots are so cool. Very, very nice post!
Fantastic pictures! I love killdeers and the cute sounds they make. They're very clever, too. It's amazing the places where you can find nature-y things when you set your mind to it!
Wow...these are great!! What a stroke of look to see this...or awareness of your surroundings...
I've never heard of that type of bird.
sandy
Welcome back, Mary. The wonderful thing about nature is the being able to find such beauty among mud, and puddles. Killdeer are beautiful and exhibit such protective qualities when feeling threatened. These are wonderful pictures!
These were wonderful photos of the killdeer. It's funny how they nest right out in the open like that. Guess it would be hard to sneak up on one that way.
Hello everyone! It's good to be back. Seeing this Killdeer was my only real nature sighting while I was gone, but I really enjoyed watching her! The only reason I got a nest shot, was because she happened to be off it when I walked up....but she immediately came out of the grass nearby and started zooming toward me to take my attention from it. I wish that I could be there to see her hatch the babies. It seemed like such a terrible place to put a nest...so exposed, but I guess it works and she knows what she is doing :-)
Sandy: They pretty much live all over the US, so maybe some day you will see one....my guide says fields, airports, lawns, riverbanks, shores...they aren't picky! You will know if you ever hear one because it distinctly says "Kill-deer, Kill-deer". She looks short in the pictures, but this is a plover with long legs.
Hi Mary,
Well we will just have to hope she and the nest are OK and she walks away with three young chicks soon.
I certainly hope so as bravely as she is defending her right to nest there!
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