"Headbanger" Participants
I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.
Click on the other participants' blogs to see
what they've come up with!
Theme ~ Nature
Chosen by Tom W.
I'm so happy that I didn't have to dig through my image archives for this week's theme! I've been out shooting a lot lately and have lots of new images to choose from. This week's images are from a little over a week ago, and have never been seen in public. Until now. Lucky you. ;)
I doubt my single header image of a bird will win a medal this week; there are likely far more interesting Nature images among my fellow headbangers. However, I was excited to share not just the header, but the complete story behind this bird, which acted out an amazing display of nature a mere two feet in front of me!
Behind the Scenes
Our family went to a church picnic at a park a couple of Sundays ago, and I had two chances to wander with my camera. On the second wandering, we (one of my "borrowed daughters" accompanied me) came across this bird as soon as we stepped off the path and onto the grass leading up to a footbridge over a road. As we kept going, the bird kept coming closer, squawking, flapping her wings (I'm of the opinion it was the mama), even lying on her back, or so it looked.
Sarah and I wondered what in the world she was doing! I snapped several pictures, and we continued on our walk. On the way back, this same bird did the same thing, when it suddenly struck me--we were getting too close to her nest! She was feigning a broken wing, tempting us to follow her to try to capture her, while leading us away from her nest.
I later learned that this bird is a killdeer, which are ground nesters, and both male and female are famous for the broken wing routine we were witnessing. I had just never seen it up close and personal! I prefer to think this killdeer was the mama, being a good mama by luring us away from her nest. Sarah, younger and sharper of eye, spotted the nest first, and I'm glad she did--I never would have found it, lol. We devised a plan wherein Sarah would follow Mama Killdeer so I could get close to the nest and snap some more pics. Poor Mama K. was probably frantic seeing that she had split up her enemy and had lured only one away, but I was quick with the camera and she settled down as soon as we left.
Enough of the written story! Here is the photojournalism you've been waiting for, and the story starts with the header image. Be thankful I didn't include every image I took and kept--there are several more! I'll let these below show the story.
Treasuring life's moments,
Christine
Visit my website
Stop by my family blog
Like me on Facebook
Nice to see this bird and it's distraction show... we have a bird that looks very similar to this Killdeer and is known to us by two names. The Peewit (from it's call) and The Lapwing (from the way it flies)
ReplyDeleteA really clever bit of nature... Great set of pictures Christine
The next is an exciting find! The borrowed daughter sounds like a creative and fun idea.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of the fakery in the rookery! (Pardon the pun). They are fascinating to watch.
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot of killdeer around here. Since their nest consists of literally nothing, they must come up with this defense. Really something to watch.
ReplyDeleteLovely shots with a super Tale-Tail Story, Must have been fascinating to watch Christine.
ReplyDeleteGreat story Christine with a neat capture of the eggs. I think this is a beautiful bird with great colors.
ReplyDelete