May 4, 2016
I may have interrupted these killdeer’s scrape ceremony. This is a prelude to mating, where the male makes a depression in the gravel or earth for a nest (which you can see in the second photo) and the female accepts the location. Killdeer will nest on soil with low or no vegetation but you’ll see them often nesting in or near gravel parking lots and roads. They’ll try to make themselves look bigger or run off and act injured if a threat gets too close to their nest. I actually saw one do this once while I was driving past it -- I thought I hit the poor bird!