Bird Nests on the Ground

Ever since February, the birders have been talking about courtship (among birds), and while that’s still in progress in some species, the results are beginning to show in others. Carol Caroompas’s has probably hatched her first brood of the season and may well have another. As our editor pointed out, these birds nest on the ground just about anywhere. As you can see in the photo, the coloration of the eggs protects them from predators, but not from stomping humans, so be careful where you walk down at the waterfront.

The killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), a shorebird, is easily recognized by its distinctive dark necklace and white mask. Some plovers look similar, but they're smaller and the bands around their neck are different. You can also tell the killdeer by its call, which is supposed to sound like its name. Here’s a link, you decide. Anyway, it certainly earns the “vociferous” part of its scientific name. If you see a killdeer dragging its wing around like it’s injured, there’s probably no need to worry. If a parent sees a predator near its young it will distract it, drawing it away by hobbling and looking like fast food, and then make a quick getaway.

“Bird nest on the ground” is an old expression for a something both desirable and accessible. “Look here what I found, a bird nest right on the ground,” sings Roosevelt Sykes. “I didn’t have to climb the tree, it was waiting right down here for me.” (The late Doyle Bramhall not only recorded the song but named a whole album after it.) American avocets, black-necked stilts, and plenty of other shorebirds lay their eggs on the ground, and though, like killdeer, they have good strategies for hiding from, distracting, and harassing hungry predators, you can see why dogs aren’t allowed on the marsh at Martinez Regional Shoreline Park.

At the other extreme, those white-tailed kites behind the warehouses/sports complexes build their nest high in the trees. Has anyone seen any signs of hatched chicks? Further inland, the songbirds are nesting like crazy—it’s like Fantasia, or that scene in Cinderella where the birds decorate her dress. Later this year when you’re cleaning up the yard, you might come across something that looks like an old sock hanging in the undergrowth. That would be the nest of the bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus). These tiny birds, four inches from head to tail and weighing about as much as a big acorn, make dense, foot-long nests from lichen, moss, and grass, held together with spider silk and lined with feathers. Hanging from a branch, the nest keeps the eggs and hatchlings relatively safe, though crows are a problem. And the whole family can sleep in it at night.

I’ve saved the best for last. If you take a walk around the duck pond soon, you will observe senseless smiling and hear lots of gentle "awwwwwws," and that's because this season's first (?) batch of Canada goslings is nearby. Photos are at right. Ducklings will probably be along soon.