The Daily Bucket is a place to catch your casual observations of the natural world and turn them into a valuable resource. Whether it's the first flowers of spring or that odd bug in your basement, don't be afraid to toss your thoughts into the bucket. Check here for a more complete description.
Seattle.
Nothing much today except this Killdeer, our neighborhood's year-round resident shorebird.
Really cool shorebirds do find their way to Seattle and are known to hang out here - along the shorelines and in the wetlands and up in the recovered garbage dump by the University. Dowitchers. Yellowlegs. Least Sandpipers. Even a Wilson's Phalarope.
Down here in the South End we have Killdeer. Maybe an occasional Wilson's Snipe or a Western Sandpiper. One time a Black Turnstone stayed for an hour or two.
But mostly we have Killdeer. In the winter they gather in groups of a dozen or more along the rocky shoreline near the marina. In the early spring and fall they retire to the soccer fields and rough grass near the dog park up from the house. We hear them calling in the dark, 1:30am, 2:00am, "kideeeekideeeekideeeeekideee", the late night revelers of the bird world.
Late spring they peel off into pairs. We lose track of most of them, except there's usually one pair that sticks around the marina or up in the rough grass. The female lays some eggs on the beach or on one of the service roads in the park. A couple of weeks later, if no one steps on the eggs or drives over them, you'll find two adult Killdeer anxiously running around yelling "kideee kideee kideeeeee!" when you approach, or worse, fluttering along the ground in a terrible state. You'll think "OMG! what's wrong with that poor bird?" and take a couple steps towards it only to have it miraculously recover and sail off laughing at you, "Kideeeee! Kideeeeee! Kideeee!".
Sometimes you might find an odd Killdeer standing on the shoreline. Check out the legs on this one:
Our friend Jim once e-mailed us to say that he had just seen a couple of fuzzy "golfballs on chopsticks" bobbing around a parking strip near his office. Their parents were nearby, anxiously running around them and yelling "kideeeee kideeeeee kideeeeee!"
A minute before I took this picture, one of those fuzzy "golfballs on chopsticks" raced over the gravel to its parent, who enveloped it under a wing and ignored the camera.
"Nothing to see here... Move along."
First Killdeer fledgling seen Tuesday, May 31, 2001.
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Your turn.
I'll check in from time to time today and be back to comment early evening PDT.