Killdeer - broken wing bird

The killdeer must be the bravest birds I know. They always build their nest - well, if you can call it a nest, at a high traffic area, like beside the road or parking lot. Recently I found one such home beside a parking lot for big farm machinery. Its only shelter were three scraggly mustard plants. Nestled in this home were four speckled eggs. Much to the chagrin of Mr. and Mrs. Killdeer, I went by this nest daily to take pictures and to see if the babies had hatched. Not until I looked at this picture, did I notice this border around the area. I wonder if the parents thought this was supposed to be some kind of protection or maybe it was a good luck charm. Be that as it may, God was looking out for this family.

On the days I brought my camera, the killdeer parents were especially protective, screeching frantically as I got closer or doing their best broken wing act to lure me away from their home. I was amazed how close I could sometimes get to the nest with one of them standing guard, daring me to come closer.

With each passing week, and with me wondering if I'd ever see young ones, the parents became more vicious, flying towards me and squawking madly as if to say, "We're not in the mood for company, at least not the human kind. What part of our screeches don't you understand?" I guess if they'd understand Hutterisch they would have known I was not going to hurt them.

At long last, some of the eggs hatched. That day, there were three tiny babies huddled around the remaining egg. This was exciting, as I had never seen killdeer babies. To be sure, Mama and Papa were there making sure I would not harm their children.

While my sister and I stood admiring these tiny wonders, all of a sudden, one of the babies shot out of the nest, running towards the road. Not a good idea - at any given time a tractor, four wheeler or any other vehicle travels on this road. So, we followed this tiny thing, to make sure it stayed safe. Clueless to the dangers, it sat down in the middle of the road, blending in perfectly with the dirt and gravel.

I picked it up and reassured it, that I would take it back to its nest...right after our photo op. It was so small, soft and sweet and I was happy that I got to hold it for a few minutes. I returned it to the nest and the parents finally realized that I wasn't out to hurt any of them, because I think this time their screeches sounded like 'thank you'.

But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;  
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you.
 Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?  
In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind. 

Job 12, 7-10

On a linguistic note, the Hutterisch word for killdeer is 'Tscheiker' or 'Tscheikela' (little killdeer), which begs the question, which language does this word come from? Ours, is a German dielect, but we do have some words from other languages such as Russia and Poland. The German name for killdeer is 'Keilschwanz-Regenpfeifer'. If you know, I'd love to hear from you!