An unexpected surprise awaited us when we showed up for our first beach day this week. This Killdeer had made her rocky nest at the edge of the gravel parking lot. Under her you can see her eggs, there are 4 of them.
Appropriately concerned for her safety, the lifeguards roped off the area around her nest, with a cone labeled "bird nest" to explain the unusual procedure. I wasn't too sure that these eggs were going to hatch out, given that mama bird was spending much of her time trying to chase off beach visitors, rather than incubating her eggs.
But I worried for nothing -- the baby birds hatched today! When we arrived at the lake, there was still one baby left in the nest (Killdeer babies are precocious -- they are born feathered, with eyes open, and able to walk -- so they leave the nest fairly soon after hatching).
The mother Killdeer tries to protect her babies by luring potential predators away with this "broken wing" act, where she acts like she's mortally wounded and hence easy to catch. Everyone was having a pretty good laugh at her realistic looking performance. (As The Map Man said, "That's one dead looking bird.")
After a little searching, I found one of the other babies in the
wood chips lining the playground area.
The other two were nearby as well. Can you see them despite their
camouflage? The male Killdeer was keeping a pretty close eye on these guys while mama continued to protect the baby left in the nest. I suspect there will be no sign of these guys by tomorrow -- the family will no doubt have moved further down the beach to get away from the crowds. So I'm glad we were there to see the babies and say goodbye to them all!
An unexpected surprise awaited us when we showed up for our first beach day this week. This Killdeer had made her rocky nest at the edge of the gravel parking lot. Under her you can see her eggs, there are 4 of them.
Appropriately concerned for her safety, the lifeguards roped off the area around her nest, with a cone labeled "bird nest" to explain the unusual procedure. I wasn't too sure that these eggs were going to hatch out, given that mama bird was spending much of her time trying to chase off beach visitors, rather than incubating her eggs.
But I worried for nothing -- the baby birds hatched today! When we arrived at the lake, there was still one baby left in the nest (Killdeer babies are precocious -- they are born feathered, with eyes open, and able to walk -- so they leave the nest fairly soon after hatching).
The mother Killdeer tries to protect her babies by luring potential predators away with this "broken wing" act, where she acts like she's mortally wounded and hence easy to catch. Everyone was having a pretty good laugh at her realistic looking performance. (As The Map Man said, "That's one dead looking bird.")
After a little searching, I found one of the other babies in the wood chips lining the playground area.
The other two were nearby as well. Can you see them despite their camouflage? The male Killdeer was keeping a pretty close eye on these guys while mama continued to protect the baby left in the nest. I suspect there will be no sign of these guys by tomorrow -- the family will no doubt have moved further down the beach to get away from the crowds. So I'm glad we were there to see the babies and say goodbye to them all!
1 comment:
The babies are just precious. The mom must be desperate to play dead. They always seem to "yell" and run from us to lead us away from the eggs when we saw them. Thanks for sharing. Great pictures!
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