Killdeer

On a recent drive through Goose Pond, we started pulling into a parking area and noticed this killdeer refusing to move even when faced with the giant blue truck.  I got out to see what was going on and she flew off a short distance and began this display - pretending to be injured to draw us away from... the gravel? 

Seriously - there was no nest on the ground and I couldn't figure out  why she would even consider a nest on the gravel and why she was luring me away from .... rocks? 

So I looked a little closer and found this single egg almost at my feet.  That's a blade of dried grass on the right of it.   It was maybe an inch long.  Just the one. 

They generally lay clutches of 4-6 eggs.  We left her in peace and I wish her luck.  That's not an easy place to raise a family.

Squirrel Nest

This time of year it's easy to see the squirrels' nests high up in the trees.   They are balls of leaves where no leaves ought to be this time of year.   It's always fun to see how many there are.

We have  a lot of them, all pretty high up.  

Eggs in a Nest

This is a mourning dove's nest.  They make lousy nests in dumb places.  This one was in a cedar tree (good place) right next to the path (bad place) and every time we walked by, it scared the bird out of it.  Eventually she abandoned it with these two eggs in it.  The eggs were gone a couple of days later

Nest in the Roses

We noticed this nest in the middle of a huge rose bush.  It must have been quite safe from most predators.   

Nest

We found this in a rosebush in mid September.   It was already empty.  I imagine it was quite nice raising a family there - nice view and plenty of natural defenses.

Frosted Nest

Another photo taken by Lily.    She's a whiz with the camera.