As I sat at desk, I glimpsed movement from the corner of my eye.  Birds.  Large birds walking on the edge of the lawn.  Are they turkeys?

It’s not unusual to spot turkeys in this neighborhood.  But five of them?  That’s a first.

With camera in hand, I found a better location to observe the avian action.  The young birds explored the border between lawn and willow thicket.

They turned back toward the road.  Just before reaching the ditch, they entered the tall grass as they sought cover among the willows.

Playing “Follow the Leader”

I love this neighborhood, flower, fauna and folk.

When I went out to mow yesterday, I knew I’d be seeing two birds.  They are both nesting and they will react differently as one approaches their nests.

The first is the killdeer.

Killdeer defends nest

She builds her nest on the ground.

If you don’t know where to look you won’t find it.

Whenever I come near, she runs away making noise.  She wants to distract and lure me away from the nest.  Yesterday, she even a did a bit of the broken-wing ruse.

By contrast, the dove sits patiently and very still on her nest.

Keep low and stay quiet

I passed by within inches of the dove’s nest.  She did not even twitch as I went by.

Both birds guard their eggs, each by a different strategy.  Both will be effective.

Portland Update

Monday morning, work was completed on the steeple of First Congregational Church.  Less than two hours later, the tornado took it down.

Yesterday, they retrieved the bell and demolished the building.  How sad for those Congregationalists.  They will incorporate the bell as a symbol of their heritage as they rebuild.

I’ve not found details on the three other churches that were damaged.  It would be interesting to watch that steeple tower on First Baptist come down.  Interesting, but very, very sad.

It was after lunch today.  I was brewing a second mug of coffee.  (I don’t often do that.)  Through the kitchen window I saw the bird.  It was sitting atop a birch tree whose top had broken off in last winter’s storm.  That broken trunk is larger than my upper arm.  (Yes, it is a large bird.)

Red-tail on birch tree

I couldn’t get a better shot than this one.  The hawk was searching the field on the other side of the tree.  That must have been fruitless.  It took to wing and flew away from me.

I was disappointed and wanted a better look.  That’s when it did a wing over, dived and reversed course. It flew at me.  Better view.  Turned.  Excellent view.  I watched in awe as the red-tail hawk flew away.  That’s when I remembered the camera.  Too late.

Yesterday was hot.  Temps reached the mid 80s.  Moisture from Tuesday’s rain had gone by the afternoon.  It was time to mow the lawn for the first time this year.  So I did.

I was about halfway through the job when I saw a killdeer doing the “broken wing” dance.  Where is the nest she’s trying to hide?

I continued mowing while keeping an eye out for the well hidden nest.  Once clear of that immediate area, I kept looking back to see where the bird would return.

Each time I came around, the killdeer was a bit bolder.

Killdeer defends nest

And then I saw the well camouflaged nest.  It held four eggs.

I mowed a large circle around the nest and the left the inside undisturbed.  Not the question for which we await an answer is: How long before the eggs hatch?  Stay tuned.

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.