Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

We found a killdeer nest just by the roadway earlier in the spring. It was so well camouflaged that Scot had to point it out to me every time we went by it. There were four eggs and a very upset mother never too far away.

A killdeer's defenses are pretty vulnerable--as I see it. They use camouflage and then they rely mostly on their acting ability. Some animals play dead but the killdeer pretends to have a broken wing to try and draw predators away from their nests or their young.

In the spring, when the killdeers return, the dogs invariably try and chase after the tiny hams (with one little wing sticking up in an odd angle), but eventually the dogs just leave them alone.

Anyway, we watched the nest, and eventually two of the four eggs hatched. We kept an eye on the nest for a few weeks after, but two eggs never hatched and the mother was nowhere to be found. We assumed that once the two eggs hatched out, the mother had to abandon the remaining eggs in order to watch over her two new offspring.
We decided to preserve the eggs. Anyway, they are almost dried up.

What is amazing is that no two eggs are alike. Each eggs has a different spot coloration/formation unique to that egg. Like a fingerprint. Amazing.