M2 acting weird, M6 chicks and Mom missing, and a Quiet Female

M2 is acting "weird"

It was a very warm morning this morning. When I arrived at the lake, I saw no sign of killdeers at the entrance. I walked around the north side of the parking lot and found M2 near the east end. He immediately began making alarm calls. I walked away, but he continued to call even when I was very far away. In fact, he didn't stop calling until I was out of sight.

When I came to "Padre Point" where M2 and F3 like to nest, he began to call again--from across the lake. His calls became more excited when I headed to the area where the chicks liked to hide. However, I did not see any other killdeer or eggs. M2 continued to call even after I walked out of the area until I was out of sight.

When I came back a couple of hours later and walked across the shore in that area, he began to call again across the lake. When I went through the brush to the "display area" (this is where M2 likes to do distraction displays when his chicks were hiding), M2 got really upset and flew over and began to call me to chase him through the display area. He continued to make alarm calls until I was well out of the area and began to make them again when I showed up on the other side of the lake on the beach. I could hear him make calls for his mate and after making those, he calmed down and only made a few alarm calls calming down to none.

Does this mean that they've already started to lay a new nest? I see no signs of his females, but females can be very quiet while nesting if they need to. I never found the first nest before. Also, Little Male, their son, was residing in that north side beach in the past, so that may have had an effect on their behavior regarding their nests before. Little Male is now somewhere else with his own nest, so M2 is free to call and roam the area.

M2 has always been a very friendly male letting me get very close to him and rarely ever made alarm calls if I kept my distance. This is a total change in behavior. It could be that he is especially nervous about his new nest and wants to make sure it's completely safe. I am going to try to keep more of a distance this time with him and his chicks, should I be privileged to know them and see them. I may even rent a better lens so that I can get photos of the chicks running around and not crouching on the ground.

M6 chicks and Mom missing

I needed to check on the status of the M6 chicks because more construction on the lake is being planned right in their exact area. When I first arrived, I found no killdeer. Walking along the beach, I did find the dad killdeer in a very hard to reach area where I had first found the chicks long ago. Dad was very excited to see me there, but there was no sign of Mom or the chicks. Dad killdeer followed me around as I searched and seemed to get very excited when I looked into the reeds, but I heard no response to his calls. He was acting very much like F3 did the first morning her chicks were missing--it was like he was sure they were there, but he didn't know where.

When I left the area, he began calling for his mate and chicks and did not stop. I did notice a crow or hawk under a shade tree, but it didn't not excite him. It was very sad as he never got an answer to his calls.

Whatever happened to them happened last night as Dad doesn't seem to be convinced that they're gone. What's strange is that the mom is nowhere to be seen. I thought, perhaps, she just left early after the chicks disappearance, or that Dad was hanging on longer than she did, or she became a victim of whatever got the chicks.

M6 Mom killdeer and chicks are missing

But, I remember back to other killdeer stories where a family was attacked while brooding the chicks at night and one parent and the remaining chicks disappear. It's entirely possible that the mom ran away with the chicks to another location and that the dad, in the excitement, didn't know which way they went. She may be in another male's territory and the Dad may not want to follow her. Or, one or two of the chicks were caught by something and Mom went with the other ones to a safer area and Dad was sticking behind "just in case" the missing chicks were only hiding nearby.

With killdeer, sometimes you just don't know in regards to their chicks. So, until Dad makes a new nest (or behaves like he's going to), I'm going to assume those chicks are alive with mom and maybe I'll see them again when they're bigger. I may check on them tomorrow to see if Dad's behavior changes to being a non-parent.

A Quiet Female

It's highly possible that there is a nest in the M8 area. I heard killdeer chirps and calls that sounded like a killdeer calling their mate in that area. When I went to check, I didn't see or hear anything. When I passed through that area later, I decided to check there and didn't hear anything, but saw a female foraging in part of that area. She flew away and didn't make a sound. I tried, twice, to take her photo, but she flew away across the lake before I could do so. She made no sounds at all. Very strange.

She looked a little bit like the female that was in the M2 territory earlier, not quite a smooth band, but almost a V shape with a little black rectangle underneath.

The Fish Food Ducklings Slide Show!

Here's a slideshow of the "Fish Food" ducklings, three of which made it to their 5th week! Enjoy!

Again, if you have trouble viewing this, you can click HERE.

I think I know where Little Male went

I have an idea of where "Little Male" (M1) went. When I was looking for the killdeer chicks in this one area and came up a hill, I heard a killdeer chirp from an area on the other side of the road. But, I did not hear it again. When I was walking in that area a couple of times, I also heard a loud chirp from that area, but, again, did not hear it again. Perhaps his nest is up there. Killdeer don't always scream or make noise when they're on their nest, especially if they're used to humans. I just hope that they move their chicks safely to water without getting hurt/killed.

Dear killdeer chicks in killdeer heaven:

**update** This was written when I thought that George's chicks were dead, but it turned out they weren't. However, I thought I would keep this on my blog for anyone else dealing with the sadness and disappointment of losing killdeer chicks they've been enjoying.


Dear Killdeer Chicks in Killdeer Heaven:

I'm sorry that your parents led you to an area where you were in danger. I was really worried about you that day and tried to think of a way to help. But, I trusted your parents to do what's best for you. Afterall, they're raised babies before and I felt that they knew what to do. I was going to check on you the night before you died just to make sure you were OK because I know there were a lot of people around and I didn't want any harm to come to you because of us humans. But, I figured that your parents would take good care of you, so I decided not to. Afterall, I saw you every morning and made you hide all the time. I thought you should have time away from me in peace.

I wish I did come to see you so I could see you one more time. I don't know if it would have helped you live one more day or not. I don't know what got you and if me checking on you would have kept it away or made it come closer. Or, if my presence there would have made your parents think twice about bringing you there and take you back to a safer area. I don't know what made your parents leave that area where you were hatched. I did notice the grackles eying you over there, but you could have hidden in the area with the reeds and would have been fine.

I will do everything I can to make sure your new brothers and sisters will not fall into the same fate. Hopefully, I will be able to see each one every day in case I need to move them away from that bad area, if possible, or call someone to help you. I'm hoping that your parents will not make the same mistake twice. I don't want to get involved in the killdeer life, just observe and admire. Your kind has their own life with their own problems and I need to stay out of it. I only want to help if there's a human causing a problem with killdeer or something a human did cause you to do something harmful to yourselves (such as the lake water being lowered).

Hopefully you are at peace and did not suffer in your final moments. I enjoyed your week of life and hope you did, too. I miss you very much.

Your human friend,

D.

M2 and F3 now acting like non-parents, update on M6 chicks

One of the M6 chicks running around in the brush

M2 and F3 are back to their ways before the chicks hatched. I went to their nesting area and the couple was still together along with the second female. They acted like the air had been popped out of their balloon. They hardly made any cries and the ones they did mostly came from M2 and were weak and sounded sad. They did get a little upset when I walked around the bushes in the area possibly where the nest used to be, but I didn't have to walk far before they quieted down. They didn't follow me around anywhere and just seemed lethargic.

Maybe I'm just projecting my feelings on them because I feel awfully sad when I think about those cute little chicks having something painful happen to them. I think the parents made that fatal mistake to take them over to the area with the grackles and crows too soon. I can't believe all three disappeared so quickly. I feel that the low lake level made it easy to take the chicks to this area and it may or may not have happened if they weren't able to get easily over to that side of the lake.

But. . . you never know about killdeer, they always surprise you. It's entirely possible that they are being hidden, still and are safe, but I doubt it.

For comparison, I went over to the M6 area and found that they had two, possibly three chicks still around. I definitely saw two large chicks with long tails running around. I tried to get a photo of them running, but there was constant blockage with plants, etc. I did get two good photos of them trying to hide. I just hope I didn't step on the third one to get to one of these two. I thought I heard the third one calling later on, but I never saw it. I even came back later to make sure I didn't disrupt the family, stood far away and watched with binoculars. I saw two very healthy, cute, active female chicks running out to the water and then back to dad, who was guarding them. They were huge, too! Probably about 1/4 the size of an adult and very well fed. All is well over there.

M6 Dad, beautiful

Little female chick, hiding

2nd female chick, hiding

Another view of her

A passerby told me that the eggs were laid under a tree in that area and they probably hatched around July 4th, too. There were four eggs to begin with, I definitely heard three chicks the last time I saw them, and there are definitely two there now. Coyotes live in the area as well as some grackles and crows, too. But, there is a lot of cover hiding them. If all goes well, they should be flying in approximately three weeks.

I went back to M2 and F3's nesting area again a couple of hours later and there were no killdeer there. Back in M2's feeding area, he was wrestling with three other male killdeers. I recognized at least one to be the roaming males I see around. There was also a little sanderling running around and I mistook it to be the female killdeer chick at first as it's not that much bigger than her, but, of course, it wasn't.

The killdeer males and the sanderling

The killdeer were acting really strange towards the sanderling. I heard angry trills almost like a parent protecting a chick, or it could be a warning to the sanderling to stay away. All four crowded in on it and almost acted like they were going to attack it. But, eventually, all of them, including the sanderling flew off together each trying to attack each other. I am wondering if M2 thought the sanderling was a chick and was trying to protect it with his trills (or they just don't like sanderlings being around).

No sign of F3 or any other female around. I wonder how long it will take for her to lay a new nest.

Also seen nearby was the Cooper's hawk and a red-tailed hawk that managed to catch a squirrel.

Cooper's hawk

Chicks-Day 7, chicks missing, parents acting "weird"

When I first arrived, I saw both Mom and Dad killdeer in M2's territory without sight of any chicks. It's unusal to see them together with no chicks, but not unusual for Dad to be there all alone. I thought I heard at least one chick response to their calls, but it could have been a phoebe. Dad was acting like he was hiding something over by some rocks and brush, but I saw nothing over there. Meanwhile, Mom slipped over to where the chicks originally hatched and began doing alarm calls.

I went over to the "hatching" area and mom constantly did alarm calls and flew outside the area and across the road, doing alarm calls there. I walked about every inch of that area as well as every other area where I last saw the chicks and/or the parents in the past and saw no sign of the chicks. Mom pretty much followed me the whole time, doing alarm calls. I thought I heard at least one or two chicks respond, but it's hard to tell when there are phoebes in the area and they often sound like the chicks, too.

Mom did this all by herself, constantly making calls the whole time someone was in any of the areas where the chicks have been seen in the last week. Dad did not join in or come to her aid. She did not do any broken wings acts, trilling, or anything else that would indicate that I had ever gotten close to any of the chicks. I left without seeing any trace of them.

Since the chicks have reached a week old, an important milestone, this change in behavior may be completely normal. The chicks know the area and what to eat, they know what to do if a human approaches them on foot and they probably know that we can't find them in the brush. Also, they probably can better regulate their temperature, so they don't need mom or dad's warmth as much as they used to. So, now, they're allowed to roam around on their own with only one parent to watch out for possible predators.

However, they are still extremely small I am having trouble believing that their parents would just leave them like that. It's also possible that all three chicks have died/disappeared/were stolen by people and the parents have no idea where they are anymore. Or, it could be that the parents know exactly where each chick is and deliberately hide them in the morning and do alarm calls to warn the chicks to stay hidden. I've noticed that was how they protected their nest. They would do alarm calls every time a person got within sight of the nest and not exactly where the nest was at, but anywhere around there. If this is the case, it will be very difficult for me to find the chicks again until they're almost grown.

It would be hard to believe that all three chicks, making it through the toughest part of their life, would suddenly be eaten or disappear in less than 24 hours. I do think, though, that the parents will become less and less protective of the chicks during the next week and a half. By two and a half weeks, the chicks may be totally on their own with a parent keeping one eye out for them, but not constantly staying in the area.

If I don't see them again, at least I've enjoyed their first week of life, but I'm holding out hope that they will be seen again when they're older.

**Afternoon update**. I looked again in the late afternoon, a time I rarely ever visit this area. At first, no sign of any killdeer could be seen, though one was heard in the area where I last saw the chicks doing alarm calls when someone walked by. Later, I saw Dad killdeer fly over to his feeding area where he called a couple of times and became quiet. As I left, I thought I heard him doing alarm calls close to the fenced off area, but could not be sure.

There are two other killdeer couples over there as well. No sign of the chicks or Mom killdeer at all. It's entirely possible that they chicks were successfully brought over through the fenced off area and are living there totally out of reach. But, it's highly unlikely as there are still way too many predators in that area. Will try again tomorrow morning, early. I will also be attempting to check out the other killdeer on the other side of the lake, too. A new construction project is due to begin there and I want to make sure the baby killdeer will not have issues as they will be tearing out trees and other plants there.

Chicks-Day 6, Parents leading them into danger?

The smallest male killdeer, getting bigger

Today, I decided just to go check on M2 and F3's chicks at the lake and that's all. I didn't have to go far, they were only about 1/8 of a mile from the parking lot. It appears that their parents (mostly the father, I'd bet) are leading them to the open area with about 100 crows, grackles and seagulls, not to mention a lot of ducks. The poor chicks won't have a chance.

Or, perhaps, they're not doing that just yet. It may be that the moved to this area because it has more food like tons and tons and ants and other insects. They may be teaching their babies more on what to eat. I think there isn't a whole lot to eat where they were before. Also, I suspect that another killdeer has laid eggs in the area where they were hatched--most likely their son, Little Male (whose name is going to be changed because there is another Little Male now). The female didn't look like his mate with the smooth band, but perhaps it's her with ruffed up feathers making her breast-band not so smooth.

I found the two near a drainage area where turtles and herons tend to congregate. They must have walked over there over the course of the day yesterday and last night. The parents actually went up to the bend of the road and almost got hit by three very fast cyclists. I sure hope that doesn't happen when I'm not around. A gnatcatcher father was found dead near there and I think it was hit by someone on a bike. But, after those bikes went by, they avoided going to that area on foot. And, by the time I left, they were no longer going up to the road at all.

It's possible that the dad might lead them across the road and parking lot to his favorite feeding area with lots of little sand flies all along the water. I hope he waits at least a week or two before he does that. It makes me nervous for them to be where they're at, especially with the near-miss with the bikes. But, I have to trust that they're experienced and successful parents and know what they're doing. However, I don't think there were as many grackles in the area last time as there are now.

Today, I only saw two chicks, the smallest and the big female, but a third one was definitely heard nearby. I went and photographed them and found that the small male (the two smallest are male) had run into an area and froze on a huge pile of ants. I could tell they were biting him all over, so I quickly left, but when I came back, he was still there. I picked him up (something I try never to do as I could easily harm the chick, get parasites/diseases and the fact that he doesn't want me to touch him, either) and moved him to another spot. But, he was listless when I put him down, and slowly crawled back to the pile of ants. I moved him again and he showed a little life kicking and protesting. I then left for a minute and came back to find that he had disappeared, so all is well. He was heard calling for his parents later on.

The tiny killdeer is getting bit by ants around his head and belly

The big female chick has doubled in size

I informed some people who were fishing along the lake and picking up trash about the little babies running around. I also picked up some trash and fishing line in the area. All the chicks had moved closer to the parking lot by the time I left. There's nothing I can really do if that's where they want to be. I can't move them if their parents want them to be there as they would lead them right back. So, I will just have to trust the parents' judgment and experience. Perhaps these chicks are tougher than they seem.