I've been seeing this killdeer running around acting crippled every time i mow my yard. I know they do that when they have a nest to focus the predators attention away from their nest. I figured it was just practicing. But then someone told me it had a nest out in the driveway. So i was out looking for it but couldn't find it, till this little girl came up and pointed out the three eggs laying in the middle of a shallow depression among the rocks. Here is picture of the eggs and of the killdeer on its gravel nest.






Now i have to put up a barracade so nobody drives in the driveway.

Plinker

We had one nest on our shooting range so we put up a little fence so no one would step on it.It didn't seem to mind the people.

Must be fairly common for them to nest around people, then? ...but it's first time i saw them this close to the house. Put a cinder block in front so nobody will drive over it. Today, another egg.

Plinker

I have had 2-3 nesting pairs around my place for years. They almost always nest on my driveway (500' long and gravel)so I usually put a couple of large bricks on either side of the nest a couple of feet away. Cats are especially hard on them, but the ones who survive seem to hang around for quite a while. A very beautiful bird wouldn't you say?

Brings back memories. Killdeer used to nest every Spring near a dirt stock tank about a quarter mile from our house out on the ranch where I grew up.

The tank was an attraction for small boys and we spent a lot of time there. The killdeer never failed to try to lure us away when nesting season came along.

I loved country living.

There are a lot of cats around. Hopefully the chicks will blend in with the surroundings as good as what the eggs do. I'm eager to see if, like ducks, they are able to walk when they are hatched, or if they are helpless like some other birds are. Some types of bird eggs hatch in just 10 or 12 days, so i'll post pics of the babies soon. Thanks for looking at the pic relating your own experiences with this bird. I find it all very interesting.

Plinker

Come on Plinker, you know how to educate kitties! derf

Yeah....i know. But most of them are owned by lonely widows and small kids.

There IS a big yellow one-eared tom whose days are numbered. It's butt ugly and creepy.

Plinker

Well,actually I was thinking of a barefoot gal running through the snow! But there are other methods. derf

You lost me, Derf

Plinker

Sorry Plinker, that must have been Anne! derf

I once worked at a factory in central Maryland that had tar & chip style roofs on it's complex of several buildings. Each roof had at least one pair of nesting killdeer.