YAY ... Baby Pictures

The Kid

   Around 7PM, I went to get BrunZ from the back lawn, to put him in his paddock for dinner. There was a great kuffuffle of killdeer noises. When I looked in the direction of the nest, there was action. Mom and Dad were very busy trying to keep an eye on the two scurrying kids. [one egg not hatched yet] The kids were ALL over the place, with parents in hot pursuit. I ran back in to get my camera, and then managed to take some decent photos. Boy ... those babies run like the wind, and they are so well-camoflaged. Other than proportional differences, they actually look like miniatures of the parents.

Mom, in mid-photo

Mom at lower right, and baby up against fence post

Another baby picture

SO well- colored, almost invisible 

Baby at lower left, and Mom or Dad at right

The remaining egg

A most protective parent

  

Another Farmish Moment ...

The very well camoflaged egg

Dancing up a storm to distract me
I can't even see her head

She was also very vocal

They actually look quite pretty when they do this

Temporary barricade

And Bruno couldn't care less

When I was hand-walking BrunZ around the ring yesterday, preparatory to riding [to let him get the saddle "feel", and tighten the girth] a killdeer became most upset and vocal. She was in one corner of the ring, and obviously had a nest there. 

   While I rode, she was extremely brave in her attempts to warn us away. At one point, I glanced below my inside leg/boot, and she was almost directly under us. Several times she swooped around Bruno, almost right under his nose. Thankfully, Bruno could not give a damn, and just kept evenly going on.

   After I finished riding, and took care of BrunZ, I went to the corner to see if I could find her nest. There was nothing yesterday, but today, while cleaning the ring, I found her nest with one egg. She will probably lay two or three more, and then it will be a few weeks till they hatch. We had a similar situation last year, when they decided to nest on top of the manure pile. I would get  scolded every morning by "mom" about not disturbing the kids.