Killdeer Antics

[oneof79]

I have seen a bunch of those birds on roofs around OKC. If the roof has multiple colored rocks they will usually choose the white ones to build a nest with. I guess it helps them stay a little cooler.

 

[SoonerBorn]

That's cool, I had know idea.

 

[TulsaDadof3]

We had some of these near our house in Owasso last summer and I and my kiddos got to witness this "broken-wing dance" for the first time. It is amazing! And you are right the Eggs are very well camoflauged. A few weeks later we saw three babies running about!
Thanks for the pics!

 

[RidgeHunter]

They're back. Almost squished another nest today, in a different spot than last year. Only one egg so far. I marked it with an old arrow shaft; I've used flags before but I think the flicking of the flags attracts the damn feral cats who delight in killing any bird and eating any egg they can find. Maybe the arrow shaft will work better.

I never did see the babies last year. I don't know if something ate them or they just moved on while I wasn't looking. One day the nest was just empty.

 

[Hobbes]

Great Pictures. Thanks for posting.

The drought is probably making life difficult for lots of creatures this year.

 

[BadgeBunny]

Whoa ... that brings back memories. My dad's pasture was FULL of those little things. And they were a riot to watch!

I miss the killdeers and the scissortail flycatchers. Don't see too many of either of them living in town.

 

[zandroes]

Sweet pics. Those birds are sure fun to watch..

 

[Robert871]

yeah, these are really cool birds, we had a couple that would make nests on our spare lot for a few years, it was fun to watch them, they would do the dance to lure us away when we were not even within 100 feet of the nest usually we were just walking out to check the mail.

we would grab some copper pipe and ribbon and flag their nests so we would not run them over with the mower, but i think our activity of mowing the lot every week or so in the summer months finally led them to give up on our land for their nests. kind of sad, i enjoyed their presence and seeing the babies when they hatched. i also thought their eggs are really cool looking. i agree their nests are really hard to find, ours would actually go get rocks from our drainage culvert and line the nest with a little wall, we would wait inside the house and watch for the bird to return to the nest so we could find it to flag it; even with that, it took us several minutes to find the nests, usually down an inch or so in a little hole with the grass blades laying over it a bit, the eggs would look like dirt and rocks in the shade.

i miss these birds being around our home, i hope you enjoy yours as much as we did ours, and congrats on the discovery of the nest without destroying it. you will have to keep us posted with more pictures when the little ones hatch and start running around and the parent gets really excited about your activity.

 

[radarmonkey]

Those are great photos, thanks for sharing.

 

[RidgeHunter]

The drought is probably making life difficult for lots of creatures this year.

Not for these birds, not no more anywho. It's a wet nest today; we've seen several inches since Friday.

There are now 3 eggs in it. We'll see if they make it.