Sunday July 03, 2011

Life at Boulderwood:
Our Shore Bird - A Killdeer

A Shorebird in the Mountains - More Common than we Knew!

About a month or so ago on our walk down the driveway, Jim and I noticed an adorable bird.  She would run ahead of us as if to say, "follow me."  We both figured she was leading us away from her nest.  But what was most striking is we both thought she looked and sounded like a shore bird, a plover.  We thought, how could a bird get that lost?  So I finally got close enough to take a photo and spent some time on the internet and guess what, our bird is a shore bird - and a plover.  She's a killdeer.  And fortunately she is not endangered.

And the killdeer is said to be found away from the shore and loves pastures, golf courses and parking lots.  So, not surprising she is in our horse and cow pasture. And she has BABIES!!

We just love these birds. Her sound is pleasing and reminds me of the beach.  She also feigns injury to distract us from her babies. This is what she looks like when she does that:

This is nature at its finest!! 

Here's some more information and some audio - so love this bird!!