Last week, as I was mowing the lawn, I noticed a killdeer.  She would seem to pop-up in front of me and run away.  Not too fast, but fast enough to stay in front of the tractor.

I began to scan the area for her nest.  It has to be close and she was trying to lure me away from it.  Eventually I saw the little next with three eggs in it.

The killdeer sits on her nest

As you can see in the first picture, I didn’t mow anywhere near the nest.  You can see the bird can’t you?

A closer shot of the killdeer

This morning, I saw no sign of activity or even killdeer presence in the vicinity of the nest.  Curiosity controlled as I walked to the nesting site.  With camera in hand and eyes scanning my surrounds I cautiously approached.  And there in the middle of the un-mown circle I saw . . . nothing but grass.

Four days earlier, on Thursday, there had been a small simple nest with three eggs.  A tuft of dead, dry grass, which lay at one edge of the circle may have part of that nest.  So did the babies hatch?  And did the parents lead them away?  Or did a raccoon or skunk find and despoil the cache of eggs?  I don’t expect to ever know.

Other Matters

Sylvia should be returning home in a couple of hours.  She has been with her father for the last week.  Nellie and I will be glad to see her.

Last Wednesday’s Wordless post disappeared from my blog.  Evidently the hosting company had to restore data and that got lost in the process.  I may try to replace it, but may not.  It wasn’t a big deal.