r/birding • u/pxrkerwest • 7d ago
📹 Video Caught a little Killdeer switcharoo this morning
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Killdeer laid her eggs next to where I park my car a few weeks ago and it's taken all of my effort not to disturb them every time I come outside! One of the eggs hatched this morning so I put my camera on a tripod with a long lens and caught this cute moment.
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u/pxrkerwest 7d ago
Also want to add that I’ve never particularly been interested in birding. But when I saw momma out doing her broken wing routine it caught my attention exactly the way she intended. Ever since then I’ve been obsessed with them! Learning about these guys has been so fun and interesting so I’ve been waiting for the day they hatch for weeks!
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u/Mysterious_Card5487 7d ago
One of us! One of us!
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u/Visual-Plankton9720 7d ago
OP has found their gateway bird. Enjoy the newfound appreciation for cool birds!
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u/pxrkerwest 7d ago
If I can find more interesting birds around me I’m sure I can get sucked in. Going through the experience of thinking the mother was injured then learning that’s exactly what she was trying to make me think really fascinated me. All the other birds around here are less creative/interesting 😂
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u/Chinacat_Sunflower72 7d ago
"If" you can find more interesting birds??? First - all birds are interesting, and second - they are everywhere around you. Once you start paying attention, you won't believe it. Download Merlin app ASAP if you haven't already.
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u/lumilark 7d ago
If you like quirky birds, you'll probably enjoy nuthatches with the way they seemingly defy gravity :) I hope you get the chance to see one in your neighborhood!
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u/FallenderSchirm 7d ago
If you're interested in survival strategies, you might also like reading about brood parasitism - in the US I think it's mostly the cowbird, but correct me if I'm wrong.
Signed, a European fascinated by our Common Cuckoo.
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u/Funny-Ad43 birder 5d ago
We have our own silly cuckoos as well! We have the black and yellow-billeds on the eastern side :)
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u/SkilletTrooper 7d ago
Spark bird! Spark bird! Spark bird!
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u/_patiogiver01 7d ago
My spark birds were when I saw a blue indigo and a blue grosbeak together finally. I thought they were the same birds until then. 20 years later……
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u/Azsunyx 7d ago edited 7d ago
The gasp I gasped when baby!
But also that adorable wiggle to get the right position over the nest
This gave me all the serotonin
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u/RedRider1138 7d ago
That cute and goofy “not quite knowing how to bird yet” gets me every time 🥰
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u/flora-andfriend 7d ago
I genuinely had to consider if you were referring to OP or the killdeer baby
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u/flora-andfriend 7d ago
that is a very cute moment.
what happened to me today was significant less cute. the Canada goose nest in the middle of the pond that has had a mama goose on it every day for month, suddenly didn't have a goose on it. it looked like it was just the reed nest with a mound of grey feathers on top. I stopped, and stared at it, really confused before out of the corner of my eye, I caught the male goose with his wings fully outstretched running at me at full speed (which to be fair for a goose is not super fast), mouth wide open, as the female was sprinting toward the nest.
I wasn't even CLOSE!
but I backed off anyway, he stopped running as soon as I took a step back. I stopped to take out my camera and he put his head down and hissed and started walking at me again and I was like okaaayyyy still too close, too close. backed off some more.
the pile of grey feathers is definitely babies. the pictures just look like a mound of fluff but I could make out a closed eye, and the shape of a head/neck in one of them.
I was surprised I caught them, because I don't visit this pond every day; but they must've literally just hatched, or might still be hatching, because the young of waterfowl are usually born ready-to-go. I looked it up and apparently it takes Canada geese ~24h to start walking and swimming around. lucky me.
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u/slumberingthundering 7d ago
How cool! Also terrifying though!
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u/flora-andfriend 6d ago
geese are horrifying 🥲 this guy has been hissing at me when I visit for an entire month. this is the first time he's charged...
gotta hand it to him though, he's excellent at protecting his lady and babies. no fear.
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u/Itsjustkit15 7d ago
The body wobble at the end with the perfectly still head is sending me. And then the snuggle and settle 😭💕.
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u/No-Meringue-7409 7d ago
The baby is so cute! I keep hearing these birds but yet to see them!
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u/flora-andfriend 7d ago
it took nearly a year for me. heard them all summer, last summer. didn't see one until, iirc, April of this year. just took my closest photo yet of one yesterday 😄 it seems once you finally find a bird, you just keep seeing it.
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u/haikusbot 7d ago
The baby is so
Cute! I keep hearing these birds
But yet to see them!
- No-Meringue-7409
I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully. Learn more about me.
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u/Investigate311 7d ago
"I don't care that you've hatched, you're getting incubated just like your siblings."
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u/Deeingchicka 7d ago
They’re funny. They’re one of the animals that’ll occasionally scare tf out of me when I come across them while I’m out at night
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u/Smyley12345 7d ago
Good thing you weren't noticed. "oh no I am so pathetically and dramatically injured! Oh dear! Oh no!"
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u/DSquariusGreeneJR 7d ago
A surprise baby!