So last post was a bit on the dark side. Not sure what talk of a dirty deed done dirt cheap gets you on the parental controls scale for the web, but we here at LifeIntrigued have little regard for censorship. Be damned Mr. Rogers, bring on the dancing horses. Actually I better be careful or they might not let me in the collegiate campus safe zone Oh No Mr. Bill. (Note, I was trying to get Mr. Salty and Mr. Hand worked into the same paragraph but I got nuthun”.
Hell, let’s focus on another Killer!
What you see here is a stone cold devil spawn of a bird. Murderer of many, savior to none. Just look at those eyes, burning death, piercing stare, a witness to the bloody pools of ruin left in the wake of destruction and pillage that is sure to accompany any encounter.
“You talking about me? You talking about ME… then who the hell else are you talking”. Lighten up Francis (or Bickle). To be honest, it is quite possible this particular bird just got roped with a bad name. It could be a sweet sweet bird that opens doors for little old ladies and helps the blind to see.
Hit the jump to see a few more shots of the Killdeer.
Likely just a gentle bird named a Killdeer by spiteful discoverers driven to absolute insanity by the banshee level screaming of “kill deer” over and over and over. Now that latter situation I can believe. These bird screech up a storm. Whenever we are out hunting for shorebirds, we are constantly checking these birds off. Like shooting Bison in Yellowstone – after the first couple hundred pictures you just stop wasting the digital storage.
This first set of shots was taken on frisky day back in March 2013. Believe it was on our Wisconsin trip up near Baraboo Wisconsin, but not definite on that. Oh, and by frisky I mean…
No worries kiddies (who shouldn’t be on this blog in the first place), they are just playing leap frog.
Figured I would go ahead and combine a couple of other shots of Killdeer. These last two came from our trip out to Yellowstone back in May of that same year. They were taken at Lake Andes in South Dakota – an excellent site for any birders that happen to be in the area – that place alone added more than 5 birds to my list.
“Sorry, does this light make me look fat?”
“Stop blaming the light” Hehehehehe!
There’s a comedian in every flock! Hope you enjoyed another look at this interesting Plover.
Nice pictures! Yes, their continuous cries of “kill-deer!” or as I would say, “kill dear!” are annoying to say the least. They have that laconic look with their vacant, hooded eyes that scream “killer” to me.
You forgot to mention their “broken-wing” display. Cunningly deceptive. Since I’ve read about it I’ve tried to pay attention to seeing that, but they never seem afraid of me enough.
Ron
Kill-deer, Kill-deer, Kill-deer, Kill-deer, Kill-deer
Right, I forgot about the broken wingy thingy. I’ve witnessed it a couple of times now – first time was out at Emiquon – you would have thought the only birds out there had broken wings – the land of misfit birds. The other time was at my company’s proving grounds one day. I was there for a meeting and was startled by a Killdeer hanging out in some pea gravel outside the front door. After watching it a bit (sorry, that broken wing trick didn’t work on me), I noticed it had four eggs laying in the middle of the rocks – they blended in so perfectly with the coloring of the rocks I didn’t even notice it at first. Before anyone gets up in wings, I left it as it was undisturbed enjoying our wildlife sanctuary.
Kill-deer, Kill-deer, Kill-deer, Kill-deer, Kill-deer