Killdeer Eggs

Even though there is a lot to do inside, the is also a lot to do outside. So with the nice weather, I have been trying to get the property cleaned up and in a bit more order.

One of the things I have been doing is cleaning up the wood pile. We hadn't really made plans for our wood pile in the fall, so in front of our house we had a sprawling wood mound. There was still a good amount of logs that weren't burnt up from either being too wet or too big, and there was also wood chips and bark all over the ground. So I spent some time last week stacking the logs and raking up the yard. Although the wood pile still needs to go somewhere else, this will do for now.After I had raked up the wood chips and bark, I loaded them up in the lawn cart and dumped them by the septic drain to add more organic matter in hopes of slowing down the runoff.

A few days later I went to see if the chips were doing anything. On my way back, as I was walking over the rocks that were left on the ground from the installation of the septic system, I was startled when a bird flew out from almost under my feet. When I looked down I saw four eggs neatly arranged on the rocks. After closer inspection I saw the broken grasses which formed the nest.

It didn't take me long to figure out that it was a killdeer nest. Close by was the momma killdeer trying to lead me away from the nest. She would walk a bit and then get on her side and flap her wings to pretend she was injured. When I walked over to her she hopped up, ran further from her nest, and did it again.

Every few days I check on her to see if there are any babies. Now she flies when I am about 20 - 30 feet away. Without her staying on her nest until I am there, it is quiet difficult to find the nest since it blends in so well.

Thankfully I can follow my husband's tractor tracks. If you look closely at the first picture, you might see that he was 3 inches from running over her nest when we were putting up fence!