Closeups with Killdeer

This gallery contains 3 photos. Killdeer are beautiful, slim shorebirds that I’ve long envied other photographers for being able to get close to. It’s not that I haven’t seen them before. I have seen them engaging in courtship and mating rituals, and in flight–but from so far, far away that even a spotting scope or super long lens (neither of which I have) wouldn’t be able to do them justice. That all changed on July 7. This is the male, who on two separate occasions took the skies and circled around us. We thought nothing of this, as we had seen this flight behaviour before. See more examples of the Weekly WordPress Challenge: Beneath Your Feet here.

why so close to us? is that a look of invitation from this “postage-stamp” bird?
f/8, 1/800, 150-500 mm telephoto lens, 500 mm, ISO 400

This is the female. No dimorphism here–she looks like a twin to her mate. At first, I couldn’t figure out why she kept walking away and turning her back on us, while keeping her head and eyes trained on us. I thought, “She must be awfully comfortable with us to do this.”

she’s playing the broken wing card. we just haven’t figured it out yet.
f/8, 1/800, 150-500 mm telephoto lens, 500 mm, ISO 320

After a few minutes, we had our epiphany. She was playing the broken wing card oh so very subtly, and trying to take us away from a scrape that held her four beautiful speckled eggs. She had built her nest close to the walking path–so close, as a matter of fact, that if we were less observant, we may have even walked into it without knowing. Luckily for her, that did not happen. It puzzled me why Killdeer make their nests out in the open; it makes the unhatched so vulnerable, and a Bald Eagle–a typical Killdeer predator–actually flew overhead during an unguarded moment.

the mother-to-be sits down to keep her precious clutch safe and warm.
f/8, 1/800, 150-500 mm telephoto lens, 500 mm, ISO 400

Killdeer are migratory, monogamous shorebirds named for the piercing, onomatopoeic calls that they make. Their diet includes insects and crustaceans. We saw no fewer than six of these, including this breeding pair. Killdeer eggs can take up to almost a month to hatch. I hope these little babies-to-be have started their new lives!

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