Birds' Nest

Killdeer Nest with Four Eggs

We noticed the bird, a killdeer, hovering around the corner of our driveway. She would make herself scarce every time we came by.

Since we work at home, “every time we came by” was quite often.

My daughter Kitten and I were biking together when we first noticed something was different. The killdeer raised her wings when we came near, but didn’t move until the last second.

The mama bird was laying four tiny speckled eggs in her nest in the rocks.

They’re difficult to see.  Nature is clever that way.

The expectant mother bird put on a show every time we wandered over.

She would leave the nest once we came within a few yards, and “pretend” to be injured by dragging one wing.

What an actress!  She was trying to lure us away from her eggs.

It’s a killdeer thing.

It didn’t sit right, though. That mama took off whenever we were near, leaving her nest exposed.

“She’s not much of a mother”, I muttered sanctimoniously one afternoon as she left the eggs on their own again.

But I came to reconsider that view.

By instinct she had one card to play, and she never ceased to pull it out.

It might not have been my way, but it was hers.

She was marching to the beat of her own drummer.

We all have a card to play. We have diverse points of view.

We are good at different things.

Our individual differences colour who we are, and as a group provides the texture and the light. 

Of course, things don’t always work out the way we might wish.

Things happen.

Empty Killdeer Nest

Coyotes happen.

Our job or relationship may not always turn out the way we want.

All we can do is try again next time.

A little wiser perhaps, a little scuffed around the edges, a few feathers missing.

I’m sure that mama bird will try again next spring.

Maybe she’ll hide her nest better next year. Maybe she won’t.

But she will try again.