Just after reaching my goal of recording 100 bird species in 2026, the birding activity started to wind down. I did add some additional species for a total of 116, but I haven’t recorded anything new in weeks. This is not surprising since the birds start to get a bit more quiet to focus on raising young this time of year.

I shifted my focus to the California Bird Atlas Project, looking for evidence of breeding activity in my area. I previously wrote about a Killdeer nest and the Killdeer’s attempts to attack my feet while walking by. I didn’t think this was a great strategy – had it been quiet I probably would not have noticed it! A few days later after publishing that blog post, I found that the nest was empty. The eggs may have hatched or perhaps there was a predation event. Either way, I dutifully marked it down as a Used Nest in my eBird observations for the project.

Some days later, I stumbled upon another Killdeer nest located at the other side of the park. Similar to before, the Killdeer alerted me to its location when I stopped too close while looking at another bird. I now had a second nest to observe for the California Bird Atlas Project!

In the days and weeks that followed, I checked on the status of the nest by observing from afar so as not to upset the Killdeer. The Killdeer was exceptionally camouflaged and it perfectly blended into the surrounding dirt.

On one occasion, park visitors parked near the nest and were loitering on the sidewalk. I used this opportunity to walk closer to the nest and found the Killdeer hovering over its eggs – egg status confirmed! The Killdeer smartly remained quiet and the park goers did not seem to disturb it too much.

Killdeer eggs can take several weeks of incubation before hatching, so at around the 3-week mark, I made sure to go back and see how things were progressing. The Killdeer was gone, so I walked around the nest area for evidence of what happened. Two tiny eggshell fragments were found nearby, and a single egg was still in the nest. This egg was likely non-viable which is why it didn’t hatch. It is likely that the remaining eggs hatched and a new generation of Killdeer were introduced to this neighborhood. I hope their adventures are safe!