Our Amazing Killdeer Adventure
Maybe you’ve noticed that my blog posts have been repeats or updates for the past week or so? Maybe you hadn’t even noticed or didn’t care. Ha! It’s all good! Well, the reason for this is because I’ve been on vacation..and decided to take a short break from my blog work as well. Luckily, I had some good posts and recipes from last summer to re-post while I “vacated”. I’m glad to be back and can’t wait to tell you about our amazing killdeer adventure!
CAMPING
We were supposed to camp on the weekend after Memorial Day. The site was reserved and already paid, but then the rains came. What the heck? I’ve never seen our lake so high. Our campground was under water, and the state park office called to cancel our reservation.
We rescheduled for the last week of June. Even the state park lady told us the site “should be fine” by then. I went out a few days before our scheduled trip to check out our site. Um, no, not quite fine. The water was still completely covering the fire pit and was about two feet from the grill, with just enough grassy space to BARELY fit one picnic table. So, we changed our reserved spot to one across the road..away from the water.
WOW!
It rained more throughout the weekend before our vacation. When we pulled in, our original campsite was COMPLETELY under water and the road was barricaded due to water over it as well. We turned around and found a different entrance, and finally accessed our new spot (which was dry).
Awwww..
After we got the old RV hooked up to utilities and dealt with a little water fiasco (because us RV newbies didn’t know what the hell we were doing when it came to winterizing), we started settling in and prepared to camp.
My husband came in the camper several times to grab snack crackers for the cute little bird that was hanging around. Very soon, we discovered that bird was a momma killdeer protecting her four eggs.
I’ve seen killdeer before, many times. I can thank my dad for the small amount of prior knowledge that I had about these amazing little birds. I remember him pointing out birds that I thought were hurt, and telling me that it was a killdeer trying to divert attention away from it’s nest. He told me they always laid their eggs in gravel with little protection, so the parent birds used themselves as a diversion to danger.
There’s Another Bird DYING Over There!
My sweet and kindhearted future daughter-in-law came out to visit and was concerned about the nest. The nest was situated in the gravel, in a spot that could be easily trampled. She expressed her concerns to me, and as I was walking over to look at it she yelled “Oh, no… there’s another bird DYING over there!”. I immediately knew that was the daddy, and he wasn’t dying. He LOOKED like he was dying, but he was just doing what killdeer parents do to protect their young. 🙂 These birds truly do amaze me.
We didn’t want to disturb the nest, but we also didn’t want someone to inadvertently step on the eggs. Abrianna and I placed a few pieces of our firewood around the nest to form a barrier, but left plenty of room for momma bird to get in and out.
Neighborly Help
Later that evening, we saw the people that were camped closest to us looking around on the gravel areas as if they were trying to find something. They had noticed the killdeer parents doing their injured act and knew a nest was somewhere close. Our neighbors were just as dead set as we were to help protect that nest!
My son and our camping neighbors moved a picnic table to further protect the nest. Our camping neighbor hooked a little motion sensor camera onto the leg of the picnic table. All of this was done with respect to the birds and the nest, without disturbing anything.
The Nest
All of us were concerned for the nest, as we didn’t know how long the eggs had before hatching..and the big 4th of July week would be very busy at the lake.
My sister, friend, and I all began researching killdeer. We discovered that the eggs take about a month to hatch from the time they are laid. Unfortunately we also discovered that many killdeer eggs don’t make it, due to the odd places that the nests are made. All we could do is hope for the best. For now, the nest was safe from being trampled..but the black crows were circling to try and get at those eggs.
Babies!
Because I didn’t want to disturb the nest, I stayed away from it. Abrianna came back out to visit us the next evening and immediately went to check on the nest. Oh my!! One of the eggs had hatched, and a new baby was there!
Killdeer babies spend longer in the eggs than other birds like robins, etc. When the eggs hatch, killdeer babies already have their feathers. These type of birds are called “precocial” birds. Precocial means “ripened beforehand”. In other words, they ripen while still in the egg. As soon as their feathers dry, they are ready to be led away from the nest.
The following morning, there was only one egg left in the nest. Three babies, one egg. They were adorable! The little ones started working their way out of the nest and momma would shuttle them back in.
It was time. Daddy killdeer gathered up the three little ones and began leading them to safer ground. They grew so fast, and were so adorable !
Momma stayed in the nest with her last baby, who hatched shortly before the others took off. By this time, we were loading up to come home. I’m quite sure the last little one left the nest a few hours later.
What An Experience!
This was such a neat experience, although nerve wracking! Everything from the maternal/paternal instincts of the parent birds to the process of hatching and leaving the nest..Mother Nature at her best. I also learned that killdeer birds are monogamous and keep the same mate for years, if not life.
Our camping neighbor took my email address in order to send me pictures from the trail cam. The camera captured over 300 pictures of the hatching process. When I receive these, I’ll add or replace pictures on this post as our aren’t the best.
So, even though I didn’t travel far for my vacation this year, the experience was one I’ll remember for the rest of my life!
