Risky Business
ByThis morning’s commute was brightened by the sight of a male Vermilion Flycatcher in vibrant display over Tucson’s Brandi Fenton Park. And so when it came time for a midday walk, I zipped back up there to have a look around.
No flaming tennis balls in the sky this time, but a quick flash of neckband on one of the scraggly soccer fields revealed a Killdeer on what may well have been a nest.
It’s a brave, perhaps a foolish, place to try to raise chicks. There’s abundant evidence of thoughtless dog-walking in the park (even though there’s a beautiful fenced off-leash area), and I’m sure there’s still soccer going on this time of year. And naturally, the place is patrolled constantly by Great-tailed Grackles seeking whom they might devour.
I love the grackles, but in this case, I’m rooting for the crazy desert plover trying to bring off a family.
1 Comments
June 15th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Sometimes, killdeer will “hide” this way when people come by and there may not be any eggs there. They often pretend to have a nest when they don’t.
But, if you saw some eggs, do you know if the chicks made it? We have some breeding killdeer in an area where there are probably about 100 grackles walking around and would love to know the results. I’m afraid that the increase of grackles are really putting hamper on the breeding of some birds and their cute chicks.