As I approached first, the mother bird stood her ground and "peeped" loudly. Then when I did not go away, I was most surprised at what happened next: she left her nest.
She walked 6 feet away and then again further, about 15 feet away from the nest, then did strange movements with her wings, almost as if acting wounded; seemed like she was trying to distract a potential predator (me) from the nest.
Below, the eggs, unattended.
As I turned and walked away, the mother walked back to the nest to resume her guard.
N8 of The DrinkingBird, a Chapel Hill, NC based blog, filled me in about this bird:
"Your bird is a Killdeer, Charadrius vociferus, a common species of terrestrial plover. They're well known for nesting in highly-trafficked areas, when I was a kid we used to have a pair nest every year in our church's gravel parking lot. But vacant lots, gravel roofs, and stuff like that are all in play. They certainly don't seem to mind. They're also very loud if you haven't already noticed.
"The behavior you witnessed is exactly how you interpreted it. The bird will pretend to be injured to pull predators expecting an easy meal away from the nest. Then when they get a good distance away, the bird picks up and flies off. The reddish rump is supposed to give the impression of blood. All plovers do this but the Killdeer is especially well known for it.
"You'll probably see the young soon, they're cute little things. They look like gray cotton balls on toothpicks, and they're able to run around as soon as they hatch. The adults will pull the same stunt with the babies while the young huddle close to the ground."
Thank you N8!
1 comment:
Saturday June 14: The eggs are gone. Didn't see the mother.
Post a Comment