On our near-40 acre property we are blessed to have an assortment of wildlife. Since moving here, I have added books on wild plants, birds and mammals to the library. There are some who are annual guests, such as the killdeer.
The killdeer lays its eggs in gravel, and every year we spend a number of weeks avoiding the road to the kennel or flagging off the area of nests so visitors don't drive over them. This year, I discovered a nest when a client was loading up his dog and we watched the momma bird put on a tremendous display to distract us before we stepped on the eggs!
But I was lucky enough to see another nest, one I've never seen before! During turkey season, my brother in law told about a sandhill crane approaching his decoys in a territorial manner, extending it's wings and tossing pieces of grass at the decoy. Sure enough, there is a nest near the pond, with a single egg. So cool!
