Thinkcage

I spotted this bird nest on the ground in one of our planters in the front yard last week. The birds appear to be some variety of sandpiper that is common out where we live. They lay these cool blue/grey spotted eggs in nests on the ground.

A few days later I noticed that two of the three eggs had hatched revealing these tiny little birds. In the pictures you can see how well they blend in with the surrounding cypress mulch and pine bark.

Much to my surprise, when I went to check on the birds the next day the third egg was gone and so were the babies. It turns out they were already capable of walking, as I spotted 3 miniature versions of the parents skimming along the ground behind them. I’ll try to get pictures, but they are quick and weary of people. In fact, it is interesting that to protect the nest, the parents will get really loud flop around on the ground as if wounded in order to attract attention away from the nest.

Interesting stuff.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 6:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.