Killdeer fledgling out for walk
I always worry when I go to the Green Island Wetlands and see a Killdeer, a larger plover, running around in one of the gravel covered parking lots. The parking lots are empty for most part of the year and only during the duck hunting season you may see a number of pick-up trucks with boat trailers there. But visitors use them to turn or look around. And that’s where the danger for the Killdeer starts. They lay their eggs in a shallow depression in gravelly areas or grass and the parking lots are obviously a preferred habitat for breeding. The incubation time is between 24 and 28 days and that’s a long time when bad things can happen and the brood is at risk.
Back under the wings
Killdeer are masters in luring an intruder away from the nest. I have seen this Killdeer and its partner running around and had an idea where the nest would be. I avoided the area and just watched with my binoculars or through the long lens from the distance during the last weeks. Yesterday evening I spotted a fledgling for the first time and a little later a second one. One of the adults was still on the nest while the other one foraged nearby. The adult bird on the nest called the young ones but they had their own mind and took their time to go back under the wings. The second photo tells the last part of that story pretty good.
We all hate rules, but there is one I like to bring to mind. When birds are active with nesting you have to remember, no photo is worth sacrificing the welfare of the animal! Keep your distance and don’t keep the parents away from the nest for a long time.