Last week I wrote about Long-billed Curlews having a Territorial Encounter but earlier that same morning I had another wonderful photographic encounter thanks to a scruffy looking, rain soaked Coyote waking up at the top of a ridge.

Scruffy Coyote just waking up – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1/2000, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light

After taking just a few images of the Coyote I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye and saw a Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) perched on some rocks on the slope below where the Coyote had been.

Alert Killdeer

I figured that the Killdeer wouldn’t be there long so I wanted to get a few photos of the bird as it perched on a boulder.

Killdeer on a rocky slope

When the Killdeer moved to another location I was happy to have a different setting to photograph the bird in.

Killdeer going up the slope

The Killdeer moved up the slope a little bit more.

Killdeer on scrape

It didn’t take long to realize the Killdeer was in the process of selecting a scrape because it was kicking things out of a small area.

Killdeer scraping

The Killdeer lowered its breast to the ground  and scraped its feet, this behavior is part of the “Scrape Ceremony” performed by males and females.

Checking out the scrape

The Killdeer left the scrape and seemed to be looking for something on the ground right next to it.

Killdeer going back to the scrape

The Killdeer then went back to the scrape and lowered its chest to the ground again.

* The images above were taken using my D300 with the 1.4x TC attached at 400mm, all were taken at f6.3, o.0 EV compensation with shutter speeds from 1/2500 to 1/3200, ISO 640.

A Pair of Killdeer near the scrape

 Then I noticed movement just outside of my viewfinder and another bird moved down to where the first Killdeer was and I backed up my zoom to 357mm so that both birds fit easily into the frame with room to spare in case one of them spread their wings or lifted off.

Killdeer on a small rocky ledge

The female Killdeer moved down towards a small pebble covered ledge.

*At this point I changed my aperture to f11, and the focal length to 400mm, my shutter speed dropped to 1/1000.

Male and female Killdeer

The male descended to the ledge.

Male Killdeer mounting the female

Then he mounted the female.

Killdeer mating

I wish the birds had been turned slightly towards the left side of the frame in the mating images to get more eye contact.

Male Killdeer about to dismount

The male began to dismount.

Male Killdeer dismounting

Throughout this series I was very careful about not filling the buffer on my memory card, I didn’t want to miss any great action because the buffer was full.

Female Killdeer after mating

When the birds had finished mating the male went up the slope and the female moved down it towards the road. I’ll keep an eye on this area to see if the Killdeer used this scrape to lay their eggs.

If it hadn’t been for the Coyote waking up after a rainy night on Antelope Island I may have missed seeing the Killdeer and creating this series of images.

Mia