Featured Image - Summer 2001

Killdeer Chick 

Killdeer have always amazed me. They nest on the ground in the open and are quite susceptible to predators looking for food and humans not looking down. Usually, they warn you that the nest is near by performing their well known "broken wing" display. The intent is to lure any predator away from the nest by running along then holding out the supposed broken wing in hopes the predator will give chase - it often works!  

On several occasions I have photographed nesting Killdeer , but until a few weeks ago I had never been able to catch the chicks on film. Mother Nature takes care of the little ones by giving them strength to run and hide only one or two hours after hatching.  Every spring, I hold a bird photography workshop at Great Salt Plains in northwest Oklahoma. This year's event went spectacularly well. On the second morning we spotted this newly hatched chick and two siblings. The parents were scolding us and trying to get the chicks to follow the parents to cover. This one was curious even to the point of walking toward us. We had our big lenses at ground level to give the image perspective. Soon after we made a few exposures, all three chicks vanished into reeds behind, not to be seen again.

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