Kildeer nest in North Carolina. I'm not sure where the name comes from or where they spend the winter. I do know that they like to hang around ponds and they nest on the ground.
A few years back I found a kildeer nest in my yard. I discovered it quite deliberately while cutting the grass. I say deliberately but as you will see the bird was the one diliberating. Imagine my wonder when that nesting bird put me through the ancient paces of kildeer survival.
The discovery took place one sunny day while I was mowing my grass. The sun was hot and high in the sky! All I wanted was to finish the cutting so I could get inside and cool off. I wore ear plugs and dark sunglasses. A towel was wrapped Arab fashion around my head to absorb sweat and protect from UV radiation. Only the slight breeze created by the mower kept me from burning up. Clay clung to my sweat soaked clothes and outlined all the creases in my skin. Bored as I was bouncing along on the hard hot clay, I got startled by that broken winged bird.
I've always had a soft spot for injured wildlife. As a child it was a strange thrill to try to nurse a helpless injured bird. So when I spotted this strange bird flopping away from me I just naturally stopped the lawn mower and tried to follow. I soon realized that the kildeer was purposely leading me away from something.
Had that kildeer not brought it to my attention I would have mowed the nest to smithereens and been none the wiser. Once I knew to look for it I found the nest though it turned out to be little more than a few pebbles and sticks gathered in a clear spot in the ankle high grass. Amongst the sticks and stones sat one speckled egg. Fearing it would be roasted by the sun, I quickly left that spot after making note of it's location.
It turned out that the kildeer picked a good spot for her nest. She eventually laid 5 eggs and kept the local varments from eating them or her. Though I never got to see her chicks, I did learn something about kildeer/human interactions.
Kildeer instincts do not seem to be inhibited by people on lawnmowers. As I would approach on the mower, she would start flipping and flopping all around me trying to get me to chase her away from the nest. Even if I turned off the mower the act of temptation would continue. The odd thing was what happened when I dismounted from the mower. It was then that the bird would desert her nest and just fly away. She was not too afraid of a lawnmower but fled in panic from a person walking towards her.
Conclusion? The Kildeer was smart enough to know when to trust her gut instinct and when to do no such thing.
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