July 9, 2015
On my recent trip to Indiana, late one afternoon, I pulled into an empty parking lot to look at my map. Immediately I was distracted by 2 killdeer that began running all around my car in a seemingly frantic state. Killdeer usually display a “broken wing” act to keep an intruder away from their nest. But the broken wing act never happened – they just kept circling my car and watching me.
As I pulled out my camera and started snapping photos, one of the birds came and briefly say down under a very small bush in the rocks:
I was amazed how quickly the bird became camouflaged with the scenery.
While the second killdeer is still circling me, the first bird got back up off the rocks to, again, join the pacing.
That’s when I finally saw what all of the commotion was about:
I happened to have parked right beside their nest of 4 speckled eggs.
Not the most comfortable place for a nest, nor private , as I imagine this parking lot is busy during the day. But curiously I Googled ” Killdeer” and discovered this location choice is somewhat typical of these birds and they seem to tolerate the busy locations and the humans in them as well. I also learned their babies take twice as long to hatch, but are born with feathers and their eyes open and can run about almost immediately.
For more interesting information on killdeer and darling photos of baby killdeer :
http://www.birdwatching.com/stories/killdeer.html
Thanks for reading!
Jeannie's Travel Addiction 