We hit the Terry Trueblood trail yesterday and caught pictures of several birds including a hilarious family of killdeer herding babies around the parking lot. At first, we weren’t sure how many chicks there were because they were difficult to see in the grass.
Eventually we counted 3 chicks. It was a comical show as the parents, aided by other adult birds trying to be helpful, attempted to round up the youngsters.
Crossing and recrossing depended a lot on the traffic flow and other factors including us. We made them nervous following them around with a camera!
I think most drivers got the hint that we were out filming the killdeer in the parking lot as the adults tried to round up the stilt-legged chicks, who would scatter in different directions. Their only guidance were the calls of adult birds—which we couldn’t reconcile into anything sounding like “killdeer” despite what the books say.
Go Retire Psychiatrist 