Bird surprise

Let's take a break from the flowers to look at a bird. At one of the plant nurseries I visited, I came across a couple of Killdeers along with a nest right in the gravel! (Later research revealed this was totally normal for Killdeers, though I still find it odd).


This photo gives a bit of context--see how the nest (under the bird :P) was built right there by the rows of plants where customers might be walking. Smart one! I later realized that this isn't as popular of a customer area because they have a display tent toward the front. It still seems kind of risky to me.


Here's a closer view of the bird with eggs. I'm actually not sure if this is the mom or dad, because there was another Killdeer that ran off when I got close, and this one took over. This one was not happy that I was nearby (though I couldn't seem to capture a photo that showed his Mad Stance), but what could I do? NOT take pictures?


A slightly better view of the eggs.


And one more, just because.

I would be more in awe of these adorable birds, but I actually saw them for the first time about a year ago and took a lot of photos then, so I'm slightly over them. But they do look like they're wearing scarves or turtlenecks, which is AWESOME, and makes up for their violent name. I highly doubt that a bird in a striped scarf would even lay a finger on a deer.