Wednesday, 28 May 2008 @ 11.04 AM
Broken Wing?
Birds are pretty ingenious creatures when it comes to survival instincts. One thing that a Killdeer parent will do to protect its young from predators is fly off from the nest, squawk like crazy, and spread out its wings as if badly injured.
This behavior is meant to drive a predator away from the nest and focus the unwanted attention on the parent. Once the predator is safely away from the nest, the Killdeer takes off in flight in the opposite direction of the nest in hopes that the predator will either follow or be far enough away from the nest to no longer pose a threat.
I've never personally seen or heard of this particular nest protecting behavior done by another bird. However, this happened today:
Mama Bluebird was attempting to keep me away from her nest of babies by distracting me to her by pretending to be injured. Once I approached her, and away from the nest, she flew off to the safety of the tall oak trees.
Normally, I get dive-bombed by one or both parents when I'm near the nest. This time, she tried something different. They do know though I pose no threat, as I am out there on a daily basis to observe the nest (if even at a distance as to prevent early fledging).