Killdeer Must Be Nesting

I've finally spotted the area where this local killdeer seems to have started a nest, as it stood it's ground and was not going to leave. After doing some research, I find that it is common to lay their eggs in gravel...who would have guessed? Here is some info I found:

Both male and female take part in all the nesting activities. The nest is on the ground at a site that provides a good view from all sides. Fields, barren open spots, gravel bars, and closely grazed pastures (sometimes near or on dried-out cow or horse manure) are common sites. The floor of a disused quarry or a gravel roof may fill all requirements. Nests have even been found on the gravel beds of railway rights-of-way, the birds merely flying out of the way whenever a train passes.

The nest is a shallow scrape sometimes lined with pebbles, broken grass stems, and limestone or wood chips. This depression is hollowed out by the male bird, who crouches low, circling slowly as he scratches the dirt loose with his feet, throwing it out with vigorous backward kicks.

In early April in the south and later in the north, the female lays four or, very rarely, five pear-shaped eggs, which are large and blunt at one end and pointed at the other and average 36.5 by 26.5 mm in size. The eggs are pale buff, irregularly spotted, blotched, or scrawled with blackish-brown or black, and always neatly arranged in a circle with the pointed ends turned inwards. As there is more blotching on the blunt ends that face outwards, the eggs blend well with their surroundings. The female is ready to breed in her first year. There may be a second brood in latitudes where the first nesting is early. Excessive heat or cold can damage the eggs, which are rarely left unattended, both the male and female take turns incubating them. On very hot days the attending bird may stand over the nest, shading the eggs with its body, at the same time allowing cooling breezes to circulate over them.

The adult birds incubate the eggs for 24 to 26 days before they are ready to hatch. A chick takes 18 to 36 hours to break out of the shell, every piece of which is removed from the vicinity of the nest by the parents within a brief time after hatching.

When the young are first hatched, they are completely covered in warm, thick down and resemble their parents, except that they have only one band, not two, across the chest. At first this down is wet, but it dries within an hour or so, and the young birds look like fluffy balls with rather long legs. Unlike the young of songbirds, shorebird young leave the nest as soon as their down has dried, they are able to feed themselves within a day, running about quickly, jabbing at the ground for small insects. The downy plumage is lost rapidly as they grow, and by midsummer they are almost indistinguishable from adults. However, head patterns are less distinct, and all browns are paler.

Although the adults do not have to feed the young, they watch them constantly and do a thorough job of brooding, guarding against enemies, and warning of danger. At the first sign of danger, the parent will give an alarm note that warns the chicks to freeze. The young will squat motionless until the parent gives an all-clear signal. Soft calls will bring the chicks running to nestle under the parent's warm feathers for a short nap or for the night. For the first few days, the chicks are brooded often to protect them from the sun or from the cold and wet. The parents cease to brood them at all after about 24 days and after 40 days the young birds are ready to fly.

To see the photos from today, please visit my Flickr page.