They usually nest above high tide mark. Never can find the nest but do see the young ones. They can run as soon as they hatch. Killdeer ( photo / image / picture from Kildale's Garden )
They are fast! I haven't seen any so far this year. Hopefully they'll pick a better place for a nest than the driveway.
Your Kildeer are very similar to our Ring Necked Plovers. Ours lay their eggs on pebbled beaches and the eggs are so well disguised that it takes an expert to spot them.
Karin--I love the one leg pose. Cheryl--Your driveway?? Eileen--Eggs disguised among pebbles would make a great shot.
Cayuga... we have a rock/gravel driveway. And for 2 years she insisted on building her nest right in the middle of it. I had to place a "warning" sign right by it so we wouldn't run over it.
Here she is from a couple of years ago. Kildee ( photo / image / picture from cherylad's Garden ) kildee egg ( photo / image / picture from cherylad's Garden )
On the other side of the alley behind my yard there is a small plaza. It had a flat gravel roof for many years. There is a dusk to dawn light at the edge of the garden. Killdeer and Night Hawks would nest on the roof every year. The new owner replaced the roof about four Years ago with a huge rubber membrane and that is the last we seen the birds. I miss the Killdeer walking around with her broken wing to get me away from the building and the Night Hawks dive bombing the insects around the night light all night long. Its a wonder the Night Hawks and the Bats never collided.
I have to put little sticks in the ground near the Kildeer eggs. They are so hard to see that it makes it hard to cut the grass.
Our killdeer like the front flower bed as a nesting site. For two years in a row I had a nest smack dab in the middle of a lovely blue sage plant. I think the coming and going killed the sage, and the killdeer have moved to the orchard area. I love seeing them march up and down the road's edge!
I had to check my spelling of Killdeer with these replies, it does have two l's, not being picky but I do have a lot of images and had them with ll so I had to check it out.
