The wonderful world of nature never ceases to amaze me. About a week ago, Jim and I saw this bird (killdeer) flying around our drive way. Every time we came home as we entered the driveway this bird would fly up and off. I hadn't seen it around before, and wondered what on earth it found so interesting in my drive way. So on Friday, Jim went to inspect the driveway and found this bird had laid her nest, of four eggs, in the middle of our rock driveway. She is an amazing little bird. When anyone approaches she will scurry off and beginning squawking and acting like she has a broken wing to lure you away from her nest.
Their eggs are speckled to look like rocks. I researched this little bird on the Internet and found that the Killdeers nest is usually on open ground, often on gravel. Killdeer hatchlings are precocial birds like many other waders. Birds which hatch blind, naked, and helpless are called altricial. Most birds are born altricial and utterly rely on their parents to bring them food.
Precocial birds stay in the egg twice as long as altricial birds, so they have more time to develop. A one-day-old killdeer chick is actually two weeks more developed than a one-day-old American robin nestling. Although adult robins and killdeer are the same size, a killdeer's egg is twice the size of a robin's. There is more nourishment in the killdeer egg, to sustain the embryo for its longer time in the shell.
Precocial birds stay in the egg twice as long as altricial birds, so they have more time to develop. A one-day-old killdeer chick is actually two weeks more developed than a one-day-old American robin nestling. Although adult robins and killdeer are the same size, a killdeer's egg is twice the size of a robin's. There is more nourishment in the killdeer egg, to sustain the embryo for its longer time in the shell.
I found this all so fascinating, and wanted to share it with you. Here is a c
lose up of the eggs.
lose up of the eggs.
6 comments:
That is so cool. I find it a blessing to have animals in our lives. They always brighten your day.
We have had that same type of bird lay eggs in our yard a couple of years. They are SO protective of those eggs-made such a fuss whenever the kids wanted to show someone the eggs.
These birds are so cute! My dad sometimes has them in is rock in the back! I think that it is always a good idea to stop and check out the beauty of nature!love ya!
I almost ran over that bird yesterday! Thanks for posting pictures of the eggs, otherwise I would have had to come pester the mama and look at them in person. Thanks for the information on the birds. I didn't know that. I love learning
Wow, good info I love watching those nature shows on tv and find out about animals. Thats so weird they lay their eggs in rocks.
I just found out they take about 26 days to hatch. It has been about 15 days so far.
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