Killdeer Update: More Heartbreak, Less Hope

In the battle of Mother Nature versus Man, Man is winning, and the world is a lesser place for it.

Workers paving over the Killdeer Nesting Ground

In the days and weeks since I first posted about the tragedy that had befallen a nest of Killdeer eggs, I have returned to the scene of the crime on a daily basis, using the activity associated with the walking of my dogs as operational cover for determining the fate of the nesting pair of Killdeer whose efforts at procreation had run afoul of human development.

The birds had not fled the area, and after awhile could be localized in a particular patch of ground where, upon further investigation, it appeared they were making an effort to give nesting another go.

No sooner than the birds had made themselves at home, however, the construction crews moved in, beginning the process of paving over the field where this nesting pair and several more like it had situated themselves.

Today the nesting pair, and the half dozen other Killdeer who had called the field their home, have been pushed out of the field, and into a grassy median which separates the access road from the river. They run around, emitting their unique calls, when approached by the dogs. But gone are the antics of the past—the wing dragging, the feigning injury.

They have nothing to protect.

One of the Killdeer that had been displaced from their nesting area by construction

Book knowledge suggests that it is too late in the season for the Killdeer to take another pass at nesting. But the weather in the Greater Capital District has been unpredictable, with heat waves blending in with rainy cold fronts. Who knows what these birds will end up doing.

Mother Nature is resilient, and there is no doubt in my mind this time next year these birds will be back, tending to their fledglings as the bounce and flutter their way into maturity, where they will continue the circle of life that defines all existence on this planet.

I reflect on this inevitability, and take comfort at what it portends for the future, even as the world around me explodes in human-induced violence. The construction crews that dug up and paved over the Killdeer nesting area were, to the Killdeer, the equivalent of the kind of conflagration that rends humanity in places like Gaza, Tehran, Tel Aviv, Kiev, and Kursk.

However disruptive this construction has been, the Killdeer adapt and move on.

And we humans will have to as well.

If we are to survive.

So once again, I take heed of the Killdeer and the life lessons they provide.

Mother Nature continues to give me hope in a world otherwise full of metaphorical construction crews trying pave me into oblivion.