They moved into a ruff neighborhood!

It all started a week ago;
just after I'd rounded up the Lawn Maintenance Crew -
(Myself, Odd Job (Orange *noisy* Diesel Traktur of Japanese Origins),
and Woody (OJ's tag-along-behind, grass munchin, assistant)
- for our weekly assult on The Lawn
(OK - the neighbors call it the Weed Patch).

We blazed a path towards the road - and immediately came
under Kamikaze-like ATTACK by Maw & Paw Killdeer! >>>



the Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)... (*link* to more Burd Info)

"Nesting ~ 4 pale buff eggs, spotted with blackish brown, in a shallow depression lined with grass on bare ground.
Discussion ~ This noisy plover is probably our best-known shorebird. Few golf courses or extensive vacant lots are without their breeding pair of Killdeers. If a predator approaches, a nesting Killdeer performs a conspicuous distraction display, dragging itself as if mortally wounded, often on one foot, its wings seemingly broken and its rusty tail fanned toward the intruder. This feigning of injury is effective in luring the predator away from the eggs or young, at which point the bird then "recovers" and flies off, calling loudly."

The Lawn Crew has dealt with their Burdy kin-folk for years -
often leaving unsightly "wild patches" in hay fields and
corners of the Estate/Ranch in defference to a staked-out "nesting site".

And These Guys wanted the WHOLE front yard and half the pond!
Progress ? was slowed to a 3rd gear *crawl* -
(OJ & Woody normally dodge trees in 5th!) -
with me frantically looking left, right, and under, for the darn NEST!
Never spotted it; but Maw & Paw Burd continued to patrol the
entire front half of the Estate long after OJ & Woody
had retired to the garage.

ALL week long, as the FurKids and I pulled out of the garage for work,
and upon our return at night - we've been *Attacked* with
increasing dive-bombing ferocity and more dramatic
broken-wing / broken-leg / crash-landing displays!

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Be *patient* ...

there's a LOT more to this Tail...
just let me copy it into the next window...