Pg20

On the 1st of April 2007, I happened to notice eggs

lying on the ground in the meadow. I put a wire tripod

over them to mark their location so none of us would

walk or ride over them inadvertently.

They belonged to the Killdeer

(Charadrius vociferus), a bird

that has an annoying habit of

making its nest right on the

open ground – annoying,

because we are the ones that

have to be aware that they

might be anywhere in the field

and watch out for them. They

like gravel roads because they

often use some of the stones

to build their rudimentary

nests. I’ve actually come

across a Killdeer nest right in

the middle of a rarely-traveled

gravel road out in the country.

The Killdeer can also drive you crazy trying to get your attention (take another look at their Latin

species name).Their instinct to distract any other animal away from their nest is so strong that they

get super-insistent that you pay attention to them in order that they CAN distract you from their

nest, if you get what I mean. I’ll be walking up the driveway to get the mail, and become aware of

this noise coming from the far side of the farmer’s field on the other side of the fence. It’s the

Killdeer raising a squawk to get my attention, and I’m not only a long way from their nest, I wouldn’t

have known that they and the nest even existed, if they had just shut up!

Here’s the bird doing

its famous broken wing charade; the last resort

in luring a potential

predator away from the

Killdeer’s nest: “Look,

I’ve got a broken wing;

I’m an easy meal; come

get me!” And when they

lead the predator far

enough away that the

nest is no longer

threatened, off they

fly themselves:

“Sucker!”

11 MAY 2009

1 APR 2007

By way of contrast, I love to listen to the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). Sadly, they are

very picky about where they like to hang out, but they don’t care for the immediate vicinity of my

house, so I don’t get a chance to photograph them very often. Until March of 2012 when I got the final

two shots, I had just this one Mockingbird photo of 25 MAY 2006. When the mockingbird really gets

going, he’ll imitate so many different birds, one after another, that I find myself laughing out loud at

his variety and inventiveness. Hopefully, you’ll be able to play the video here that gives you an example

of just one bird’s complex song.

29 Mar 2012

1 APR 2007

29 Mar 2012