Killdeer

Anyone familiar with killdeer knows that if you have a mama bird with eggs or young in your garden it doesn't take long to find it out. I ventured out last Saturday morning with my camera to check out the garden and almost stumbled onto this mama at the edge of one of my planting beds. I was very surprised that she had not already warned me with the typical melodrama involved in such situations. She tolerated me rather well that day but the light was never right for a good picture and I was afraid to get too close as she sat on her eggs.



The next day I went out to do some work and she was still there. I thought I'd get back out with the camera and try again later. In the meanwhile my husband came outside to play a little fetch with our Pomeranian( he loves the little plastic "whiffle" golf balls) and being unaware of Mama practically hit her with the ball. That was definitely more than she could bear and from that point on she ran at every approach. That was how I was able to capture these beautiful eggs.

The photo at the top was captured after stalking her a while on Monday morning before going to work. It wasn't as close or detailed as I would have liked but it's amazing what can be done with photo processing software.

I looked for her this morning but you would never know she had ever been there:-)

S. Britt

All images in this blog are original photography and legal property of the author. Any unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.