Here's a great change of pace from politics....
About six weeks ago my husband was mowing a grassy lot
across from our boat ramp when he noticed a ‘wounded’ brown and white bird
about 8’ from him. He continued mowing
and shortly he did a 180 and started back across the field when he noticed that
the bird was gone… and they he saw her just plopped down where he had just
mowed – just sitting on the grass…. As he approached again, she literally ran
about 8’ away and started acting like she was wounded. Being very curious now, he hopped off the
mower and walked to the area where she ran from, and he discovered a small hole
in the grass with FOUR SPECKLED BROWN AND WHITE EGGS IN IT! He was totally shocked and more than happy
that he had NOT run over or damaged the eggs.
The mama bird was freaking out so he got back on the mower and came home
and got 4 red flags, the kind on wires about 18” long, and he went back and
planted them at an imaginary four corners from the nest. The mama was a few feet away watching and
wondering what the heck he was doing, but when he walked back to the mower, she
took off running back to her eggs….She was one lucky bird and to the best of
our knowledge, she hatched the four eggs and all ended well.
So far, so good….Yesterday as we headed down our GRAVEL road
to a 4th of July party at a neighbor’s home, we heard this awful
squawking, and looked back, and there was another brown and white ‘mama’ bird
raising holy hell at us. We got out of
the golf cart and walked slowly back in her direction as she ran across the
road and started flopping around and acting like she had a broken wing.
Alerted to this game, we got back in the golf
cart and just sat there and in a few minutes she hustled back across the road
and ‘sat down’ about 3’ from the edge of the road….we again started walking to
her because NOW we had her number. Off she
ran but WE walked to where she HAD been sitting. Low and behold, we found four eggs sitting in
the road gravel and if we had not known what to look for we would never have
found those eggs! The camouflage was
incredible. We drove back to the house
and got our last two little red flags and marked the road about 2’ on each side
of them.
Went on to the cookout and had a fun evening, complete
with awesome fireworks. On the way home
we swung way over to the right side of the road and there was mama bird, just
sitting in what appeared to be gravel.
This morning before church, we put a sawhorse on the road
to keep vehicles and golf carts away, and of course, she did her little ‘lame
bird show’ for us. Off to 9:00 church in
town and when we got home, I tied some hot pink plastic tape to each end of the
sawhorse. She didn’t take off quite as
far and she kept looking at what I was doing…. And when I walked away, she came
right back and plopped down on her EGGS.
The neighbor, whose home the bird and the sawhorse were
in front of, google this mama and we found out it is called a KILLDEER. They lay their eggs in a small indention they
scoop out in whatever place strikes their fancy. Eggs hatch in 24-28 days (geez!!!) and then
mama feeds them and teaches them the ways of the world.
I went out to try to take a picture without disturbing
her but my camera is lousy. However,
found that the papa killdeer is nearby – on the other side of the gravel
road! How cool is that!
I hope to update this post if I can keep track of this mama bird as she hatches and raises her babies!
If you will look in front of the sawhorse leg on the right you MAY be able to see mama bird.... a white chest with two black horizontal stripes!
THIS IS TOTALLY UNREAL!
Went outside this morning to say hello to my little bird.... and she was gone! And her eggs were gone!!! And there were pieces of eggshell on the road! I was devastated! I immediately decided that one of the feral cats that shows up here had eaten the eggs, or maybe it was one of the dogs that run loose.... so sad!
My neighbor came out (she and her husband live in Raleigh but come down often for a 5-7 day stay) and she told me that when they were down for Father's Day, she was trying to plant some flowers out by the road, and that a bird kept screeching at her and acting like it was wounded! She never saw the nest in the road, but the bird hung around all day and screeched at her.
FAST FORWARD: My neighbor came out and we scouted around for clues, and that's when she said that the bird - later discovered to be a KILLDEER - was there Father's Day and HAD to be sitting on a nest, the nest I discovered on Saturday with the mama on it. BTW - I have never ever seen better camouflage anywhere. I gathered up my sawhorse and two flags and put everything in the garage.
An hour ago, my same neighbor sent me something she discovered on line about this particular bird and I wanted to jump up and down I was so happy!
Very interesting....When Kildeer chicks hatch, they can immediately see and are off running as SOON AS THEIR FEATHERS DRY!!!! There is little evidence remaining in the nest that there were birds there. Once the eggs hatch, the parents (and we watched the male yesterday hanging out not far from the nest) will immediately remove the eggshells from the vicinity, a behavior seen in many shorebird species. Even though the outsides of the eggs are well camoflaged, the bright white interior of the shells can attract predators!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Seems like there are four new little Kildeer birds in the 'hood! Makes my eyes fill with tears!
I hope to update this post if I can keep track of this mama bird as she hatches and raises her babies!
If you will look in front of the sawhorse leg on the right you MAY be able to see mama bird.... a white chest with two black horizontal stripes!
THIS IS TOTALLY UNREAL!
Went outside this morning to say hello to my little bird.... and she was gone! And her eggs were gone!!! And there were pieces of eggshell on the road! I was devastated! I immediately decided that one of the feral cats that shows up here had eaten the eggs, or maybe it was one of the dogs that run loose.... so sad!
My neighbor came out (she and her husband live in Raleigh but come down often for a 5-7 day stay) and she told me that when they were down for Father's Day, she was trying to plant some flowers out by the road, and that a bird kept screeching at her and acting like it was wounded! She never saw the nest in the road, but the bird hung around all day and screeched at her.
FAST FORWARD: My neighbor came out and we scouted around for clues, and that's when she said that the bird - later discovered to be a KILLDEER - was there Father's Day and HAD to be sitting on a nest, the nest I discovered on Saturday with the mama on it. BTW - I have never ever seen better camouflage anywhere. I gathered up my sawhorse and two flags and put everything in the garage.
An hour ago, my same neighbor sent me something she discovered on line about this particular bird and I wanted to jump up and down I was so happy!
Very interesting....When Kildeer chicks hatch, they can immediately see and are off running as SOON AS THEIR FEATHERS DRY!!!! There is little evidence remaining in the nest that there were birds there. Once the eggs hatch, the parents (and we watched the male yesterday hanging out not far from the nest) will immediately remove the eggshells from the vicinity, a behavior seen in many shorebird species. Even though the outsides of the eggs are well camoflaged, the bright white interior of the shells can attract predators!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Seems like there are four new little Kildeer birds in the 'hood! Makes my eyes fill with tears!
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