Yesterday, I took pictures of my killdeer in the front yard and distressed them. They are shore birds that have migrated up the hill from the lake in the bottom pasture. The nests would normally be in the gravel and rocks along the water, protected by reeds and other plants that grow at the water's edge. In summers past, they have laid eggs in the gravel along the road. They don't build nests actually but just scoop out a hollow in the earth. This time the egg depository is right out on the apex of the yard. (This will give you an idea of the solid rock that is the front yard!) When you get close to the egg or the young if it makes it through 2 dogs, the adults will run along the ground pretending to have a damaged wing so that the dog or other prey is lead away from the nest and in pursuit of what appears to be an easy target. In this top picture, I tried to capture the behavior.
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