The Mama Killdeer

A lot of farm chores consist of riding around and around on a tractor, essential but also monotonous.  Most farmers learn to entertain themselves to keep from going to sleep. (Nearly all farmers are sleep deprived this time of year, especially the part-time farmers.)  Some resort to radios, some have music or books on their ipods or phones,  and some chat continually to other bored farmers who are riding around in their fields.  I have heard that, in some flatter areas, they even have TV's in their cab tractors and watch movies as they ride.  Our fields offer a few too many challenges to try that here!

Our son had been doing one of the necessary but boring jobs, cultivating his tobacco.  The long, seemingly endless rows were fast inducing a coma-like state.  To keep his attention up (and his eye-lids) he began watching the various wildlife that appeared.  He has, over time, reported seeing everything from deer and turkeys to foxes and weasels as he rides along.  This day the patch seemed to be mostly occupied by birds.  As he was plowing along, he noticed a Killdeer a few rows over.  These long-legged birds are seen a lot in open country like plowed fields, pastures, and golf courses.  It amazes me that they ever raise babies, since they build their nests in the open on bare ground.

Their method of protecting the nests is one of the bird kingdom's best acts.  When the adult birds sense danger they begin to run away from the nest, feigning injury.  With great drama they will drag their wings and run with ragged hops, looking for all the world like a crippled, easy meal.  Most predators are distracted by the appearance of easy food (aren't we all looking for the easy way?) and will chase the adult away from the nest.  When they are far enough away the birds fly off, leaving the danger behind. 

Knowing their habits, he kept watching to see if he could spot the nest.  As he got closer to the spot she seemed to be monitoring, he stopped the tractor and dismounted to approach the bird.  He soon spotted the nest, shaded by a small tobacco plant, in the edge of a row.  Mostly to watch the performance of mama bird, he walked over to it.  Sure enough, she immediately began hobbling away, dragging her wing and looking extremely pitiful. He followed.  As soon as she determined he was far enough away from her babies, she burst into flight calling her loud cry, "kill-dee. kill-dee!", which is bird-talk for "Haha, fooled you!" 

Laughing to himself he walked back to the tractor to resume his plowing,  carefully lifting the plow when he reached the nest until he was safely past.

Mama bird had saved her babies once again.