The first thing the girls do every morning after we get home from Mass is check the Fort. We knew the killdeer were due to hatch any day now, based on an incubation time of 24-28 days from the time the fourth egg was laid. I could tell by the way Lydia came dashing up the yard, braids flying, anxious to announce the news and find the camera: today is the day! We found Mrs. Killdeer with two little hatchlings, and she was very determined not to move from them or her remaining eggs. The little birds were so still, yet obviously very much alive with their eyes open and heads held up. Killdeer are precocial birds, meaning their young hatch with eyes open, able to walk and covered with feathers, like ducks and chickens. Their eggs are much larger and the incubation period longer compared to similarly sized altricial (opposite of precocial) birds.
We are used to seeing little naked hatchlings and we think they are sweet; although they look like floppy-necked bulging-eyed aliens, our brains know they are really baby birds and so we like to look at them. But they don't really look much like grown up birds; in fact Eliza always calls pictures of little baby birds 'turtles' which isn't a bad approximation. On the other hand, the little killdeer look like miniature copies of the parents, and as such are just incredibly, ridiculously, cute, cute, Cute.
We kept running out to check on their progress. Within a few hours they were up and running, scuttling about on their impossibly long legs and finding their own food. But as the young ones went off to seek their fortunes the doting parents followed them everywhere, chattering and displaying furiously if we got too close.
The girls spent a good part of the day parked in the grass at a distance that was comfortable for Mrs. Killdeer and suitable for constant viewing. They brought their school books down to this spot, binoculars and camera in tow, and kept vigil. A third bird did hatch, but not the fourth. The mama did seem to keep her hopes up for quite some time, remaining staunchly perched on her last egg.
Looking at a picture of just one it's hard to tell if it's a baby or adult!
Here are the three little ones back home in their scrape of a nest. Their mother is very adept at fluffing herself out to cover all of them, just like a good mother hen.
I hope she can keep them all safe in this big, wide, dangerous world they've hatched into. She certainly looks determined to try her very best, don't you think?
