Killdeer Return to Visit the Cap’n

Message from the Cap’n is a compilation of fishing advice, waterman and weather insights, Chesapeake lore, and ordinary malarkey from the folks who keep their feet wet in the Potomac and St. Mary’s rivers.

The first week of June opened with water temperature in the lower Potomac at about 74 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Interpretive Buoy System: Ideal for most nesting shore birds: Not too hot! But temperatures began rising quickly, reaching nearly 78 degrees at the close of the third week. A good time for baby shorebirds to hatch!

Down at Sea-Fruit Oyster House, we got the proverbial bird’s eye view this year of the killdeer shorebird, first to nest in the parking lot in many years. It’s always nice to have some infrequent visitors claim a small portion of the gravel parking lot as “home” for a short spell around Memorial Day.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes the killdeer as “an urban bird” for its willingness to nest in close proximity to humans. Helping offset human intervention, the eggs and the bird sitting on the nest are almost invisible.

I always mark it with 5-gallon buckets and metal milk crates to keep vehicles away. Slow movement and soft language soon get the birds’ confidence, and they pay you no mind as you come and go.

The female, once having selected her “scrape,” will typically lay one egg a day for four days. It is only after the eggs are laid that small nesting materials are added. The male and female incubate the eggs for about four weeks before little fluffy cotton balls with toothpick legs emerge, skittering about in minutes. It is always amusing to see the parent bird scuttle away, dragging a wing to appear easy prey to draw a predator away from the nest.

They like to nest in open space near water. While they incubate the eggs to keep them warm, as temperatures rise they stand above the eggs to shade them. If shade is insufficient to keep the right temperature, they will get their breast feathers wet to dampen the eggs to help cool them.

Adult killdeer do not feed their chicks. The babies scratch about for food, just as their parents do, within hours of hatching. After about three weeks, the young birds take “to the wing” and are off to explore their world.

Let me tell you in a slightly different way:

 

Killdeer

Walking to the shore last week

I found something very near my feet

Then it shrieked and fluttered off the nest

Dragging its wing at its deceptive best

“Kill deer, Kill deer” was its sound in flight

Drawing me away from the nest all-right

Then around me in circles it ran

Like I was becoming its biggest fan

I found one egg in the nest that day

So, I positioned some crates hoping it’d stay

And uttered “pretty bird, pretty bird” to settle it down

Getting her return to the small dent in the ground

Day 2 and 3 were uneventful enough

With the bird running around strutting its stuff

But with no shrieking or dragging of the wing

I was gradually making a new feathered friend

Day 4 was beautiful and still: The best one of all

As it hardly moved away from eggs and no call

It seemed as though it had acquired a sixth sense

That I meant no harm and caused no suspense 

Hopefully, I can get in the action

As the cotton balls on sticks get traction

Then life’s struggles really get tough

Till they can fly away safely enough

 

Till next time, remember “It’s Our Bay, Let’s Pass It On.”

To learn about tours and trips into the Chesapeake, keep in touch with Fins + Claws on Facebook. Catch up on Messages from the Cap’n Member Page. Please visit Cap’n Jack’s lore and share with your social media sites. Or reach him here: [email protected] or 240-434-1385.