Image from
Celebrate Urban Birds Project
Celebrate Urban Birds Project
Cornell Ornithology Lab
A few days ago Sharkey wrote about the mourning dove in her neighborhood. Comments were made regarding the sloppy nest-building habits of the bird which got me to thinking about other birds I have observed whose nest building consisted of little more than scratching in the earth, if that.
The above picture of a killdeer with her eggs is a typical representation of a killdeer nest. We had a pair of these birds directly across the road from our house for several years. To their credit, the area in which they nested was surrounded by a six-foot chain link fence and experienced little traffic, human or otherwise.
These birds usually pick a gravelly spot in which to place their eggs, for the camouflage of spotted shell blends nicely with pebbles. Anyone who has observed these birds is familiar with the "drawing" activity and the "broken wing display" as the bird attempts to distract an interloper from the nest.
The black skimmer is another bird that nests on the ground. A few years ago we were privileged to spend part of an evening on a spit jutting into the Gulf at Rockport, Texas. This area was inhabited by various shorebirds, but of most interest to us was the black skimmer. I was lucky enough to snap a few shots that turned out rather well.
The birds lay their eggs on the ground, sand or bare earth, and some of the nests were practically in the road. The creatures showed little concern for human company, perhaps skittering off a few feet but immediately returning to their posts after we passed.
Shapshots by vanilla,
Canon Sureshot A520
Rockport, April 2008
