Killdeer

Its spring time, soon we will have baby birds all over the place. Already many of the early nesters have already hatched their broods while other species, like warblers, have just made it back to the area. I have been asked to help out this year on the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas. I have not volunteered in the past because of time constraints but I decided to help out this year when I found out that they were not getting much data back from the area that I live in.

The killdeer, like the one in the photos above, probably have not yet laid their eggs. These pictures were taken at the Sherburne NWR in July. This bird nested in the loose sand and gravel on the side of the wildlife drive. Not a very safe place to nest. Staff at the refuge did flag off that part of the road to make life a bit easier for mom. In the top photo you can see the empty egg sitting in front of the killdeer. In the second photo I managed to get a chick.