M4 had a female in his territory

M4 had a female in his territory the other day. In this case, it was hard to tell which was male or female as the one that I thought was M4 was very calm and didn't mind me, which the killdeer I didn't know was going crazy, hiding, yelling, screaming. It's very possible that the one I thought was M4 and had posted about earlier was actually a regular female visitor to his territory. When I first got there, M4 began to hide.

Sorry for the blur on these photos.

You can't see me, but I've got my eye on you!

Equivalent to Bo Derek in 10 for killdeers. Hmm, looks suspiciously like the one I thought was M4 earlier

Females can be picky about who they mate with

OK, now that I'm way over here, I want to tell you to stop looking at my girlfriend! I think this is the real M4 because he is the one doing the territorial displays and the most yelling, but I could have them reversed.

This was the only killdeer I saw the next time, making territorial calls, but acting like good old Mr. Cool this time. Looks like he's been roughed up a bit.

I don't know what happened to the female after that as it's been a couple of days and I haven't seen her.

Lake Murray Killdeer Territory Map

I kinda didn't want to do a territory map based on my observations of the killdeer in that area, but I was afraid that I would be confusing people with my descriptions of what was going on. I was afraid that people, with knowledge of the area, will do harm to the chicks or eggs, especially those that don't like killdeer or don't like their noises. I want to keep knowledge of the locations of nests to as few people as I can because the more people who know about it, the more likely someone will hurt these birds or their chicks either by accident or on purpose. The whole lake is heavily used at this time of year and I didn't need any more people trouncing through the brush crushing eggs or chicks.

But, I think it would be a good thing for education and helpful to those studying killdeer breeding behavior. Territories can and will change from year to year and not all males in this area will breed or have successful nests this year. (You can see in my last post that only one female seems to be in the area.).

Here is a generalized map of the territories. If you click on the link, you will see the map as well as the legend. I also have the map posted at the bottom of the blog at all times.

Killdeer Territory Map, Lake Murray Spring/Summer 2010

Note: If I find any nests that look vulnerable to human interference or predation, I will be taking the territory map down until all chicks have hatched and matured enough to be able to get away or hide.