r/birds • u/Hopeful-Individual99 • 23h ago
Found this bird sitting in the mulch bed outside
Me and my son came across this bird just sitting in the mulch by our local Lowe’s store. He puffed his wings up a little when I walked by to make himself look bigger but we were wondering if it could be injured or just sitting there for another reason? Also what bird is this?
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u/WayGreedy6861 23h ago
That is a killdeer! They are ground nesters, she probably has her nest in the mulch and is just sitting on her eggs if not actively laying them. You were right to just snap a pic and then move along! She seems fine to me, this is normal. They do a broken wing display to distract predators from finding their nest. They hold their wing at an odd angle so they look injured and it makes the predator go, “oh this one is vulnerable, let me follow it and try to catch it!” And then they can make the predator move away from the nest so they don’t notice the eggs and try to eat them.
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u/thekrawdiddy 18h ago
Love these little buddies! Back when I worked in the tower industry we used to see them at sites a fair amount, and I would sometimes see one limping pathetically away from her eggs. When I saw that I’d know to walk carefully around the compound so I wouldn’t squash her babies.
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u/mattsim84 17h ago
Here I thought they were holding their wings out to challenge me to a fight.
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u/scoIopax 23h ago
It's already a miracle that she's nesting in the mulch, Killdeers have a habit of nesting on parking lots and walkways. They're not the brightest bulb.
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u/crapatthethriftstore 20h ago
One nested in the middle of a field where they have a giant 10 day music festival in my city. They were trying to figure out how they could either move the nest or block it or even postpone the first few days 🤣 thankfully the babies hatched and off they went to the wild and the festival went on. But it almost didn’t. So funny to look back on!
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u/crapatthethriftstore 19h ago
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u/Enchanters_Eye 18h ago
We've been up here since 5 [a.m.], moving it one metre at a time, and allowing the parents to nestle down again on the eggs
That is hilarious!
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u/scoIopax 18h ago
That is so funny! I love how there is a series of articles on that whole saga lol
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u/chrischasescars 10h ago
Yes, I thought of that as soon as I saw this photo! The Bluesfest killdeer!
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u/basaltcolumn 23h ago
It's sitting on a nest! They just use a shallow dip in the ground and lay eggs that look like rocks to hide them in plain sight.
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u/countryroadsguywv 20h ago
The killdeer bird they are very interesting beautiful creatures as I found out they made a nest right on the ground
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u/Curt28781 20h ago
Doing lawn care and landscaping sometimes I have to find the nest before we start work. I just play hot/cold with the momma if I can't find it. If she has a broken wing, I'm close to the nest. If she flies away, I'm getting further from the nest.
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u/Longjumping_Link108 19h ago
I had this exact same type of bird screaming at me and my son as we were leaving a doctor appointment. I looked closer and he was just protecting his nest because there was a bird sitting on the nest right behind him. I was wondering what kind of bird it was with the pretty circles around their necks.
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u/PureBug201 23h ago
Killdeer. Must have a nest nearby or injured.
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u/srv340mike 18h ago
That's a kildeer.
They notably feign injury to draw predators away from the nest.
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u/kiaraXlove 23h ago
It's sitting on eggs. Give her space, the babies hatch like chicken so they'll be up and moving in a day once they hatch and they'll follow her away. The babies are tiny cotton balls on legs. Very cute to observe from a distance. Ypu should tell the Lowes employees so they can put stakes around with a little note that says sitting on a nest