♥ Kildeer Eggs ♥

I just love all the new life that comes with spring!  About a week and a half ago, when one of my piano students was leaving, she noticed a kildeer egg in our driveway, just a little off to the side of the main driving path.  Since then, I've noticed there is another one!  I tend to get a little excited over these things!  :)

I have to say thought that I've often thought that these birds aren't very smart.  They will lay their eggs right barely on the edge of the road, or in this case on our driveway.  It's so close to where we drive and where piano students pull in and park that we were worried those little eggs might not make it.   And see how well it blends into the rocks? 

Can you see them?

So, bless his heart, Jason put up a little blue flag out there to mark them so we could help mama kildeer protect her eggs.  I have already warned our mail delivery lady and she says we're not the only ones on her route marking kildeer eggs!    That made me smile!  :)

I may not think mama kildeer is very smart as far as where she chooses to lay her eggs, but she really is a good mama.

She doesn't like me coming around, getting that close to her babies. 

She's headed out to try to distract me.  Love those spindly legs!

She is mighty protective, squawking and playing out the broken wing scene for us time after time. 



Can you see here out there pretending to have a broken wing so I'll look at her instead of her babies?



We try not to linger very long around the eggs so she can get back to warming her eggs.  But I have a certain little 5 year old boy that is very curious about those eggs.  I have to watch him when we go outside because he is a little obsessed with them.

The incubation period is about 28 days or so, and we're not really sure how long the eggs have been there, but I'm thinking in the next week, or two anyway, we should have two kildeer babies.  Actually around here, we call them "kildees". 

I hope we're as blessed as we were about 4 years ago.  We watched  a mama kildeer (and the daddy on watch nearby) protect their eggs, and actually witnessed one of the babies making his debut into the world out of the egg.  And watched them struggle to stand on those long spindly wobbly legs.  It was a beautiful thing.  And believe me, that was a very protective mama.  She contorted herself into a very ugly creature to attempt to scare me away....she didn't like that camera near her babies one little bit! 

If you'd like, you can read that post, Don't Mess With My Babies, here.  It's quite a nature lesson, if you've never witnessed that before!

I'm hoping we get to see these babies....we're watching closely for any changes.  They don't stay in the nest long after they arrive.  If we are blessed enough again to get photos when they arrive, I'll be sure and share them with you.

Thanks so much for stopping by.................. and remember to take time to notice God's creations all around us.  I'm always amazed at the beauty and the details of each and every thing He created for us to enjoy.  :)

♥ Tammy ♥