Frozen in Time

Well, I have an update on the Killdeer family for you. Unfortunately, it’s not a happy update.

Yesterday afternoon, before I went to my goddaughter’s dance rehearsal, I went out to check on the eggs one last time and there were still two of them and at least one of them was still peck peck pecking away. This morning, I went out to check on them, and there were no eggs, but there was one dead little baby chick. Both the parents were still hovering nearby in the bushes, so Mike and I came to the conclusion that they had removed the egg debris and the other two chicks were most likely hidden safely in the bushes. I looked around a little bit but couldn’t see any sign of them, other than the parents being really mad at me for nosing around.

I took Mike to work (his truck is in the shop this week) and LG and I went to the grocery store. When we got back, I stopped the car on the street across from where the nest is and nosed around some more. They were both there and were both still agitated at me, so again I assumed that they had babies hidden there. But as I was driving up the driveway, I saw something that looked suspiciously like a killdeer egg, so I stopped the car again an got out to investigate. It was indeed an egg that hadn’t hatched all the way. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say it was not a happy ending. So, that still leaves one baby unaccounted for. And a mystery as to what happened to them. Was it the heat? Was it a predator? Is one still alive and well hiding in the bushes? I don’t know that we’ll ever know for sure unless we happen to catch a glimpse of the baby. I feel just awful and sad for the parents because they really tried so hard to take care of their little nest - sitting out there on the eggs through ridiculously hot temperatures. I was really hoping for a happy ending and I hate that there isn’t one. I guess that’s the circle of life, but it still makes me want to cry.

To end on a lighter note, though, we also have a nest in our saguaro and one of those babies fell out. Luckily, even though Melody found it first, Mike was right there, shooed her away and put it safely back in its home. So, at least one baby should have a happy ending.

I’ll try to find something to photograph later. I’m kind of bummed out, though, so I don’t know what it will be.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 11:56 am and is filed under Project 365+1 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.