probably old news to birdwatchers, but it was exciting to us and I thought I'd share. My dad told me these are called killdeer. Nest out in the middle of the pasture and momma pretends to have a broken wing if you get too close. We've been watching the eggs, 4 of them, for what seems like forever and this morning they hatched! Two had hatched when I checked on my normal feed/water horses and by time I ran inside to grab camera and wake my DD and DH, one more had hatched.
here's a close up. my 2 month old foal came within inches of stepping on them when she ran over to see what we were looking at so after chasing her away, we didn't go back out. Didn't want to give the horses any reason to go investigate. I have no idea how the momma kept the horses from stepping on the nest in the first place.
not a very good picture, but here's momma pretending to have a broken wing.
Very neat!!! Thanks DevilDogs!
You are welcome Pellet :-)
Does anyone know if the momma relocates babies and egg shells after they hatch? My DH just checked the nest and it's completely empty. Not even a shell left. I'm hoping she relocated them and nothing got to them.
Yes, the family will wander off immediately after hatching - the parents lead them to where the best feeding is (which is often not the same place as the safest place for the nest).
The female eats the eggshells to regain the calcium she lost in making the eggs in the first place.
Resin
Thank you Resin! I feel much better now :-)
I grew up with at least 2 nests of these little guys in my dad's tobacco fields every year. After they wander off, we'd run around the fields trying to find them again. The mother's act of having a broken wing usually gives you and indication of where they are until they start flying.
Well I either got close to another nest this morning or some babies. Was walking the fence line in the front pasture and two birds started flipping out. I retraced my steps, watching closely where I was walking but never found anything. I knew there were two hanging out in the front pasture for a while, but had never gotten close enough to any particular area for them to get upset with me. I just don't understand them picking a horse pasture as a "safe" place to build a nest. My one gelding got very close one day to the nest I posted pictures of and I watched the momma flipping out at him. He completely ignored her so I went and moved him. His one foot was within inches of the eggs as he was grazing.
I'm so glad for this post. We had a pair nest on our lot last year. We didn't check the nest too often because they would get so upset, then suddenly they were gone without a trace. It's great to hear that is normal behavior! Fascinating birds to watch.The male would announce his arrival with a very distinctive call at specific times during the day. Great pictures, DD.
:-) I figured these guys would be old news to birdwatchers since they are on the ground and so accessible and almost didn't post them for fear of boring ya'll :-) As we just moved to the country after living in the city our entire lives, we are enthralled with the amount and variety of birds around here. We have a brown bird with a couple nests around. The babies make this annoying sound that is exactly like my one dog whining. I have no idea how many times I've yelled at my dog to shut up before I realized that it wasn't him...poor boy. Then we have some county land behind us that is all woods. There is some strange bird out there that sings all night long. Only one as I've only heard one and he moves up and down the tree line. One night, he's directly behind our house and the next night, he's so far down that I can barely hear him. Very strange call too. I've listened to tons of nocturnal bird calls on several sites I found trying to identify him but haven't yet. Very loud distinct two part call with what sounds like a click sound at the end.
I'm SO glad you posted these Devildogs! I think they are so interesting. I haveseen them this spring hanging out on the grassy medians by the parking lot of Lowes and also in the grassy areas outside a local bank which is right on one of the busiest highways in town! They do pick odd places for sure.
A neighbor said they had a pair nest in the middle of the driveway at his work. They put traffic cones around the nest to protect it and it became quite a conversation piece. :-)
one of my favorite birds - love how protective they are! I have a favorite bird watching place a few miles from my home and right across the road from that is a tiny "pasture" with one horse. There are killdeer hanging out there, too. I tried to get close enough for a photo (right next to the fence), but had the horse nuzzling me instead!
