Westward Ho!

Frederick J. Ernst

June 5, 2000

Copyright © 2000 FJE Enterprises

Yesterday there was a lot of excitement in the meadow over which our house looks out. Late in the afternoon I saw a large hawk tearing some hapless animal apart. Oh no, has it gotten one of the baby Killdeers? An adult Killdeer stood nearby. I grabbed the field glasses and Charlotte and I flew outside. After a minute or two, the hawk carried off its lifeless prey, which would soon be a meal for its young. I started searching for the other Killdeer with the field glasses. Then I saw one of the babies scurrying along our gravel road, then the other, with the second parent nearby. Relief!

The little ones cannot yet fly. Were it not for their parents' bravery and cunning, they would not long survive. We have seen a Killdeer parent chasing off hawks. Neither do they take kindly to other birds that they think might hurt their youngsters. I have seen them attack starlings and mourning doves, who in all probability were not the least bit interested in the Killdeer youngsters.

March 24th was the day that we first saw the adult Killdeers this year. Killdeers are a type of plover, which one expects to see on a sea shore. Here they spend all day patrolling our gravel road, which winds westward down to a brook 500' from our house. Charlotte thinks that the Killdeers regard our gravel road as a surrogate beach.

On April 3rd we saw them mating, quite an acrobatic act, considering how long their stilt legs are. We first spotted the two youngsters, who are miniature replicas of their parents, on May 31st. The only difference between the adults and the young is that the former have two dark breast bands while the latter have only one. In the case of the male, which is slightly larger than the female, the upper breast band is somewhat broader.

The adults do not feed their young, but they are fiercely protective of them as they feed themselves. Typically, one of the adults will fly over to any animal they think might threaten the kids, interposing itself between the supposed predator and the kids, who are generally attended by the other parent. An adult will often fly up quite close to us in order to divert our attention from the chicks. They have even feigned injury.

The two parents seem to share guard duty equally. The kids like to snuggle beneath a parent, as the latter hunkers down among the rocks of our gravel road. They seem to have a home base right at the intersection of our 100' driveway and our gravel road, for we often see them there. All of a sudden the adult will fly off, leaving the youngers who were tucked beneath it, and the other adult will come to provide such lodging. The kids seem to relish it. This has even happened only ten feet from our house, providing us with an excellent view. We noticed that the adult has red eye rings.

This morning I arose at 6:00 a.m. to a late frost. The first thing I did was to check that the Killdeer family was okay. With each day they seem to grow perceptibly. We wonder how long it will be before the youngsters acquire the ability to fly. Until then, Charlotte and I will try to help the parents whenever a dog or cat presents a danger. Only a couple days ago, we saw two dogs that we did not recognize carry off one of our rat cats, after mutilating it just for fun.

Postscript:

After dinner I walked along the path they had taken, but neither heard nor saw them. In all probability they felt it was time to move on. The youngsters would learn to fly somewhere down near the swamp, where they would find a lot more to eat than our meadow could provide. We were sorry to see them go, but we anticipate that the adults may return with a second brood sometime this summer. If they don't have another brood, it won't be for lack of trying!

On June 10th, as I was picking sawfly larvae off the red pines near our house, I heard the screech of a Killdeer as it flew overhead. Later Charlotte told me that the Killdeer was scolding her for removing the hill of chippings that the Killdeers had used as a vantage point while their chicks were here. This seems to confirm that they intend to go through the ritual again this summer.