I have a squatter...

[ccride]

This little killdee let me know in no uncertain terms that she doesn't like me mowing too close to her family-to-be.

They raise around here every year, when they let me know they are there I find the nest and mark it so as not to bother it. They are fun to watch.

 

[Thomas]

She must feel safe/protected,lets hope she doesn't tell others.

 

[Baby Grand]

Great pictures!

 

[David Wayne]

They are fun to watch, when I was a teenager I located one while plowing.
Her nest was in the dished out center of a dried cow patty. I watched
her broken wing trick every round. Then just moved the thing over and did the
same thing when disking & planting. I always heard birds would abandon the nest if you touched it, but she didnt.

 

[ccride]

They are fun to watch, when I was a teenager I located one while plowing.
Her nest was in the dished out center of a dried cow patty. I watched
her broken wing trick every round. Then just moved the thing over and did the
same thing when disking & planting. I always heard birds would abandon the nest if you touched it, but she didnt.

That's great, haven't seen that before. Here, they just establish a nest right on the ground, usually somewhere that the grass and weeds don't grow too high. I don't know how they ever survive but obviously they know something I don't.

They used to drive my dog crazy with the broken wing act. But she's either gotten too old to care or just given up trying to chase them.

 

[Western]

I see them at night on the parking lots I work on, they dont take encroachment to kindly. I have seen babies running around, but not any nest. I guess they are attracted to the bugs on the lot, dunno

 

[Ridgewalker]

We had them on our place when I was a kid. Thanks for the pix! You just reminded me of a sound I haven't heard in a long time, the call of a killdeer.

 

[ccride]

Well, the babies all hatched, probably sometime Thursday, I checked Friday morning and they were there. I thought the nest was hard to find with the eggs, but these little guys are almost invisible. I wasn't sure at first if they were alive because there was absolutely no movement, could not even tell they were breathing. But according to a book on birds my wife has, this is normal for these.

Took some pictures that morning, went back and took some more that afternoon and some had already moved from the original nest. Went out Saturday morning to check and they were all gone, could not even locate the parents.