The killdeer's unhidden eggs

By Aaron Horrell

These two eggs may look a lot like Easter-egg candy, but they are not!

I found these eggs the morning of April 8 at the edge of a rural road. The Easter Bunny didn't hide them. A small bird called a killdeer did.

These two eggs are in their primitive nest. The killdeer does not collect grass, sticks or mud to make a nest like many other small birds.

Instead, the female killdeer will select a place on the ground for her nest.

She looks for small rocks or pebbles upon which she can lay her eggs. She will scoop out a nest by pushing the pebbles with her feet and body.

A killdeer nest doesn't look anything at all like a bird nest. It is usually in the open, with no cover from sun or rain.

But the killdeer is a smart bird. Speckles on the eggs serve as camouflage in the pebbles, so when the nest is untended, a predator will have a very hard time finding them. Also, when the female sits on the open-air nest, she will be able to see a predator approaching.

To make it even more unlikely the nest will be found, she will fly to or run toward the predator.

She then will feign injury as if her wing is broken to lure the predator her direction, away from her nest. Yes, the killdeer is a smart bird.

You know a killdeer is close when you hear its "kill-deer kill-deer" call.