Find the bird in this picture...now nest...eggs

[oregon]

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/oregun/Killdeer2003.jpg

Named for its two-part call: Killdeer. Sounds more like "scree-scree" to me. Loved by lazy bird watchers because you can drive up to their nests and take a pic w/o getting out of your car since they excavate their nests in gravel, usually just off the pavement.

Here, however, the nest is in the center of a gravel service road in the Tualatin Wildlife Refuge. Someone put the orange circle after the nest was discovered.

There are two speckled eggs.

This bird may be most famous for its broken wing display when you get too close to the nest. They spread out one wing and drag it along the ground as they stumble away from the nest.

oregon

[jaislandboy]

cool pic Oregon.... i'm having trouble finding the eggs tho.... :confused:

[The Deacon]

There's a large patch of green at about 9:00 in the circle. Directly to its right, much closer to the center of the circle there's a smaller patch of green. Immediately above the small green patch, there are two whitish objects, one almost straight up from the small plant, the second a few inches to the left of that one. I'm guessing those are the eggs.

[Dr. Snubnose]

I think Deacon might be right on....there is at least one egg there...but if he is wrong that there are two eggs there I'll guess the second one is at 10 O'clock, right near the outer circle red mark....then again there could be one at 2:30 O'clock close again to the outer edge of the red marking...just in front of the bird.......now I'm seeing eggs all over the place but at first I was looking for a Byrd....LOL...Doc:D

[jaislandboy]

There's a large patch of green at about 9:00 in the circle. Directly to its right, much closer to the center of the circle there's a smaller patch of green. Immediately above the small green patch, there are two whitish objects, one almost straight up from the small plant, the second a few inches to the left of that one. I'm guessing those are the eggs.

Good eyes Paul! that Lasik procedure must've been an overwhelming success! ;)

[oregon]

now I'm seeing eggs all over the place but at first I was looking for a Byrd....LOL...Doc:D

Thank you for playing. Great guesses all.

OK, OK, OK.:) Give up?

The two visible eggs are centered in the photo. The dark speckles are washed out on the left egg and quite pronounced on the right egg. The eggs touch each other.

Some nest: shallow depression in angular 3/4" gravel. Also, there appear to be some small pieces of old wood bark commonly seen on trails and paths around this neck of the woods.

This road, in which this nest is located, is closed until next Tuesday. I took the picture from a open nearby walking path by holding the camera up over my head, standing on tip toes and taking a series of shots until I got a couple users.

Here you go (I touched up this pic with the intent to show the eggs):

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/oregun/Killdeereggblowup.jpg

A member of the Plover family, I used to refer to the Killdeer as a sandpiper until I was set straight. Here is some reference material: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plover

All the best,

oregon