Watch birds long enough and you will start to realize birds sometimes nest in the oddest of places.
One such bird and location we found most unusual was a killdeer nesting in the gravel in my brother’s front yard a few years ago.
And what is even more astounding is all four of the eggs hatched, despite being only a couple of feet from the sidewalk in a recently developed urban neighborhood that’s comprised of numerous hazards, including lots of kids, plenty of dogs, and a seemingly endless array of cats.
The gravel has long since been removed and replaced by milkweed, flowers, shrubs, and other vegetation to attract birds, bees, and butterflies but back when the pea-sized rocks were used to help keep the weeds down, it wasn’t uncommon for killdeer to be found somewhere nearby each spring.
A member of the plover family, it’s not uncommon for killdeer to be found in urban areas like my brother’s neighborhood, including locations such as lawns, parking lots, sports fields, airports, and, yes, even graveled yards.
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In fact, killdeer are quite at home in many types of urban settings and this wasn’t the first year we saw them in the neighborhood but it was the first time we had them actually nest in the yard.
Killdeer will scrape their nests in bare ground, oftentimes in areas covered in small gravel to help camouflage the nest and eggs as their eggs do blend in quite well with small rocks and gravel.
Their nests do blend in very well and sometimes the only way you will know you are by a killdeer nest is if you get too close and one of the parents starts to perform the “broken wing” routine, hoping to lure you away from the nest.
If you do find a killdeer with a drooped wing that cautiously stays just far enough away from you to avoid catching it but close enough you’re tempted to try to see if it is hurt, that’s a tell-tale sign you are very close to a nest and you should back away while looking where you walk so you don’t accidentally step on the well-hidden nest and eggs.
Trust me, it’s not uncommon for killdeer to nest in plain sight but the nest still not be easily observed unless you sit and watch from a distance to see where the bird returns to after the threat of danger to the nest has passed.
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It’s quite remarkable that this particular pair of killdeer had such great success in hatching all 4 eggs in such a risky nesting location and it just goes to show if we leave nature alone and give birds half a chance they can do quite well on their own, even in odd locations as our very own yards at times.
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