Niagara Digiscoping: The Perils of Nesting Killdeer

At the start of my work week last week, the perils of nesting Killdeer near the employee parking area began and by Thursday June 9 there were 4 eggs resting in a small depression in the gravel.

There was no point lamenting the fact that I would be unable to attend the Darlington ptarmigan viewing on Sunday morning. So instead, I placed the scope in the car and after dropping Jean off at work, I went to observe the progress of the nesting pair of Killdeer and try a bit of digiscoping.

One of the Killdeers was sitting on the eggs when I arrived and did not raise a fuss as I walked by to enter the building. After checking on a few things I emerged from the building and the Killdeer left the nest as I started to setup the scope. The main reason I was there was to capture images of the bird sitting on the nest. Now I would have to wait as the Killdeer strolled the area near the eggs.

Eventually the Killdeer returned to the nest and resumed its position on top of the eggs.

Its mate was on sentry duty and remained alert while I stood in the parking area deciding on the best location from which to capture additional digiscoped images.

I was mindful of ethical birding practices and kept my disturbance of the birds to a minimum.

After capturing a sufficient amount of images, I left the Killdeer pair to enjoy the quiet of an empty parking area and loading dock.

Incubation will take 24-26 days so we should see the first of the young emerging at the end of the month and then the parental duties of both adults will increase greatly. Until then, check out these other images of birds from around the world that were recently posted for World Bird Wednesday 30 at The Pine River Review.