Ode to a Killdeer

  Early in the season camping trips help set the stage for understanding the activity of many birds and animals during the coming summer  weeks. 

 The first morning,  when I initially saw gulls flying to and fro from one lake to the next, calling and twirling in the air as long strands of material dangled behind them, my first thought was that they had been caught in some sort of plastic wrap---doomed to an early demise.  But as I looked closer, I saw that what they were doing was  carrying  reeds from last year's bullrushes that were no doubt going to be used in nest making.

Watching the courtship dances of the common coot with the splashing, dashing, pecking and squawking caused one to recall the group of baby coots and their mama swimming back and forth in front of our  late season campsite last fall .

Apparently you can't get the one scenario without the other. 

I also came across a limping Killdeer on the gravelled drive way leading into our  little camping area.   At first I tried to follow it as it limped and spread out its damaged wing as it cried and cried out in pain, and then what came to mind was my Grade 4  Science Lesson  Chapter 14 :  HOW MAMA BIRDS PROTECT THEIR BABIES  Subsection B (1) "A mother bird will often feign injury in order to distract a would be predator from discovering her nest of live chicks or eggs."

 I immediately turned on my heel and walked in the exact opposite direction from whence I came, much to the Mother Killdeer's increasing chagrin.  I found the precious but simple nest located on the ground with the only protection being a few tufts of grass and a dandelion plant close by, about a foot from the gravel driveway.

Can you see the three little eggs?

I watched that Mother Killdeer quite often over the course of the next few days.  I saw her sneak quickly, running on her spindly legs,  when she thought no one was looking, over to the edge of the road to get a quick dip of water from the ditch before she ran back to perform her 'sitting' duty.  I am not sure when she had had the time to actually eat, perhaps the male killdeer came to relieve her sometime during the  process.  The Saskatchewan Birders' Manual said that it would take 28 days for the eggs to hatch...a whole month..at least two weeks , a most dangerous time for both mother and nestlings.  

And then...
         ..... the inevitable happened.

 It was just before sundown, we saw the lights and then the dust  of a truck pulling a camper coming along the road.   We heard the truck motor slow down and the squeak of the trailer springs as it made the turn into the camping area.  The cry of the Killdeer  pierced the air as we saw the bird fly by in panic calling and twisting back and forth over the lake and then back again over the campground.

The driver had no idea  what he had done as he busily set up his outfit rolling the tires back and forth to get the right spot. The killdeer stopped its call after a few hours, barely noticeable if one didn't concentrate on trying to hear it over the sounds of all the other night bird sounds.  

I am not one to actually project human feelings unto animals, but at the same time I did feel badly for the Killdeer and her family.  Heartbeats were beating in those shells.  Something in that mother bird's instinct told it to care and nurture those eggs as much as something triggered a response of disquiet and unease at the destruction of the nest.

Is it no wonder then that when  we humans " the actual thinking species" while  visiting  places where there have been great  losses of life and tragedies,  speak of the palpitativity of sorrow in the air.  Is it no wonder then that people refer to broken hearts and spirits in their own songs of sorrow? 

 I think its even more of a wonder that  that very same Kildeer, even now, is probably planning and preparing for another nest this season; just the same as many people who have been hurt both physically and spiritually will continue on in striving for the best.