Different species of birds build many different nest types, in all kinds of locations and in all kinds of situations. Some birds have adapted their nest building to man-made structures. Swifts may build nests in chimneys instead of in hollow trees and a robin once built its nest in a train caboose and followed it when the train was moved, feeding the young whenever the train stopped. Some birds build no nest. Wherever they lay the eggs becomes the “nest”.
Except for moving a small stone or two, a slight depression amongst small rocks or on loose or packed gravel or dirt becomes a killdeer’s nest. When eggs are laid amongst similar sized rocks, they are difficult to spot. The eggs are grayish, blotched with black, making them even harder to locate.
When an adult killdeer moves off and away from the nest it will often feign a broken wing and other helpless appearing postures to distract attention from the area of the nest. Last week one such adult went through that routine with me.
I squatted down just a few feet from the nest and kept as still as possible. The bird eventually quieted down and approached me. Eventually, after some ‘painful antics’ and after some painful squatting on my part over what seemed like forever, it came back to the nest and stood right over the eggs. It never settled on the eggs but just seemed to stare at me. Shortly, my attention was drawn to the fact that I was squatted directly over another nest. That was when I decided enough was enough for the very patient bird and (and me).
It seems that the nest I was watching had been abandoned and the nest I was over was a replacement. The bird may have been forced to leave the first nest too often, causing the eggs to go bad, or the site became contaminated somehow and so the bird laid a new set of eggs.
The one clue that enables locating a killdeer nest is that the eggs are smooth and regular in shape and pattern. The smoothness makes easier rolling of the eggs for even incubation.