The Female Killdeer comes so close she fills my lens. She's making such a racket, we knew we were in the wrong place - Horseshoe Pond Rail Area - Concord, NH 05-04-16

Susan Wrisley and I were walking down the Horseshoe Pond Railroad Tracks looking for Warblers on a gray rainy day. We did not see a single Warbler in an area that has always been one of the most productive in the past.
As we approached the northern end of the West oxbow pond, we saw a pair of Killdeer down at the end of the connector path between the two farm fields that runs parallel with the tracks between the two bodies of water.
They were close together and while shooting, I realized they were going to mate which they did. I photographed them the entire time. Afterwards, the female came along the service path towards us... looked at us, then backed up to the far edge in the grass and settled in as if settling into a nest. We both know from many personal experiences that Killdeer much rather lay their eggs near stones, as their eggs blend in so well. We both commented that this behavior seemed odd. She then got back up, walked across the service path and headed up the incline towards the tracks we were standing on. She came up about 20 feet away from us... we both stood very still as we did not want to startle her. Then she started walking towards us... closer... and closer still... she started making quite a racket... at first I figured she just didn't see us... no, she saw us alright. when she finally got within my minimum focal distance of 10', she did their famous broken wing routine, designed to draw a predator away from their nest... their nest! Susan was first to realize the predicament we were in and said freeze; do not move. We searched all around us, and there nestled in a hollow in a railroad tie, less that two feet from our feet were 4 Killdeer eggs. We were tight there and had we backed away from her we would have quite possibly stepped then them. Seeing them gave us both a scare. We then backed off 20-30 feet and photographed the female Killdeer as she sat back down on her eggs.
We though this was odd, that they are mating even though they were already on eggs. We also realized that this was very bad location for the nest as many people use this as a thru way to the city of Concord. Most of the traffic however is birders, so we posted a notice of the nest location to the NH.Birds Google Group. I slowly moved back towards the nest location, but on the side of the tracks as far into the brush as I could and tied a pink surveyors ribbon we had found on the ground on a plant adjacent to the nest as a marker incase one of the birds was not at the nest as was the case upon our arrival.

I sure do hope these adult Killdeer are able to deal with any predators, and the human traffic. Luckily this area most people travel down on the service path.

We usually keep the location of all nests held close to the vest, however in this particular case, we felt it best to warn the birders of NH because this is one of the most popular birding spots in the Concord area, and the specific location we birders head up the tracks slowly looking intently at the water and shoreline of the north end of the oxbow, not the stone and ties of the tracks.
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