The Return of Killdeer Nests and the Injury Feigning Adult Birds

It happens every year. At least one pair of Killdeers builds a nest in the riding arena. Most years, we spot the camouflaged eggs and set a cone nearby, a marker to help keep the eggs safe.

This year, we spotted the nest after we'd been riding for a few minutes. At the time, there were only two eggs and one had clearly been shoved into the sand/ground-up Nike tennis shoe footing, perhaps by a horse hoof. It's the one with the light scratch mark:

Gently, I pushed the footing away and brought the speckled oval Killdeer masterpiece to the surface. Lorenzo and I marked the nest with a cone and kept riding.

Today, we were delighted to find four eggs in the carefully reconstructed nest. One of the parent birds was close by, feigning an injury in an attempt to draw us away from the eggs.