I have always wanted to see a Killdeer because in the bird book they look so cute. But they had always been elusive, until Saturday. As we pulled up to a dead end road in Wausau, near the interstate, believe it or not, we were greeted by this neat surprise. I took this shot right out the window of the car, he/she (males and females look the same) paused nicely didn’t he. I didn’t crop it at all, btw.
Cute little fellow, isn’t he? The way he was flopping around I thought he was hurt. But in that next shot he looks like he’s asking me if I’m following and of course I obliged him.
After I got home and looked him up in the Birds of Wisconsin Field Guide, I found that the way he was acting was not an indication of him being hurt. Nope, he, or she, act that way to draw intruders away. They build their nests on the ground, often in gravel, so their broken wing impression is a type of protection of the nest.
I also read that their babies look like yellow cotton balls on stilts. Maybe I should go in search of a yellow cotton ball. . . .
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