We here at Soulful Equine have had a blessed event we would like to announce to all our loyal followers. Within the past few weeks, we became the proud godparents of four bouncing baby killdeer.
Now, I understand that this is a website devoted mostly to animals of the equine persuasion, but since I don’t have the “horse nut gene” referred to in my Evidence That There Really IS A “Horse Nut Gene” article, I felt it was my duty as the geneless one to expand our horizons and look at some other incredible creatures.
Here is the story of the first batch of Soulful Equine’s 2010 baby killdeer (I just noticed another nest in the middle of the driveway with 2 eggs in it).
It started in early March 2010… what I will call somewhat of a battle between me and Momma and Daddy Killdeer. They were determined to build their nest on the driveway; not normally a problem if they build on the edge of the driveway, but they were determined to build smack dab in the middle. I was more determined.
So in mid March they finally saw my long term vision and agreed to the nest on the edge of the driveway. I put up one of those orange hazard cones and an orange flag to help steer would be egg smashing tires (although unintentional) around the nest. I couldn’t tell if they were appreciative or not because every time I walked down the drive to the mailbox they acted like I was some stranger they had never seen before. There was lots of yelling and slapping of wings (killdeer pretend they have a broken wing in order to lure potential predators away from the nest and/or babies).
I’ve come to learn that Momma and Daddy killdeer take turns sitting on the nest, but they don’t start sitting on the eggs to incubate them until all four eggs have been laid. The killdeer embryos inside the first-laid three eggs don’t start developing while the eggs are sitting out in the cold, but once they feel the warmth of the parent killdeer, all four killdeer embryos start developing at the same time. It generally takes 24 to 28 days of incubating for the chicks to hatch.
I’m still not sure which one weathered the snow storm we got around March 20th. I’m guessing it was the momma. She sat on those eggs with the snow blowing like a blizzard. I never saw her leave the nest. Last year I watched another parent killdeer sit on the nest through a hail storm. They’re truly amazing and determined little creatures.
The eggs hatched on April 11th and on April 12th the four little chicks were already out of the nest looking in the grass for food.
This has been a very educational process for us and we have enjoyed watching their development immensely. I documented their progress on video and will post it below for your viewing pleasure.
