{"id":4838,"date":"2012-04-18T05:17:43","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T11:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4838"},"modified":"2026-02-19T06:17:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T12:17:58","slug":"mating-killdeer-thanks-to-a-coyote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/18\/mating-killdeer-thanks-to-a-coyote\/","title":{"rendered":"Mating Killdeer – Thanks To A Coyote And My Keen Eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ScruffyScruffy 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<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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<\/em>) perched on some rocks on the slope below where the Coyote had been.<\/p>\n

\"AlertAlert Killdeer<\/span><\/p>\n

I figured that the Killdeer wouldn’t be there long so I wanted to get a few photos of\u00a0the bird\u00a0as it perched on a boulder.<\/p>\n

\"Killdeer<\/p>\n

Killdeer on a rocky slope<\/span><\/p>\n

When the Killdeer moved to another location I was happy to have a different setting to photograph the bird in.<\/p>\n

\"KilldeerKilldeer going up the slope<\/span><\/p>\n

The Killdeer moved up the slope a little bit more.<\/p>\n

\"KilldeerKilldeer on scrape<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Pointing out the scrape? That was no easy task.<\/p>\n

\"KilldeerKilldeer scraping<\/span><\/p>\n

The Killdeer lowered its breast to the ground\u00a0 and scraped its feet, this behavior is part of the “Scrape Ceremony” performed by males and females.<\/p>\n

\"KilldeerChecking out the scrape<\/span><\/p>\n

The Killdeer left the scrape and seemed to be looking for something on the ground right next to it.<\/p>\n

\"KilldeerKilldeer selecting scrape<\/span><\/p>\n

The Killdeer then went back to the scrape and lowered its chest to the ground again.<\/p>\n

* The images above were taken using my D300 with the 1.4x TC attached at 400mm, all were taken at f6.3, 0.0 EV compensation with shutter speeds from 1\/2500 to 1\/3200, ISO 640.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"PairPair of Killdeer near the scrape<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Then 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.<\/p>\n

\"KilldeerKilldeer on a small rocky ledge<\/span><\/p>\n

The female Killdeer moved down towards a small pebble covered ledge.<\/p>\n

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

\"MaleMale and female Killdeer<\/span><\/p>\n

The male descended to the ledge.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Killdeer mounting the female<\/span><\/p>\n

Then he mounted the female.<\/p>\n

\"MaleKilldeer mating<\/span><\/p>\n

I wish the birds had been turned slightly towards the left side of the frame in the mating images to get more eye contact.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Killdeer about to dismount<\/span><\/p>\n

The male began to dismount.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Killdeer dismounting<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"FemaleFemale Killdeer after mating<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0used this scrape\u00a0to lay their eggs.<\/p>\n

If I hadn’t spotted the Coyote waking up after a rainy night on Antelope Island I, and the person with me, may have missed seeing the mating Killdeer and creating photos of the mating Killdeer.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Killdeer photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[511,100,1022,267,26],"tags":[4004,4073,733,4144,4002,11978,4070,270,4062,4363,5763,5841,275,4364,1439,1438,3975,274,165],"class_list":["post-4838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-coyotes","category-davis-county-utah","category-killdeer","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-breeding-season","tag-canis-latrans","tag-charadrius-vociferus","tag-coyote","tag-desert-island","tag-female","tag-killdeer","tag-male","tag-mating","tag-mounting","tag-plover","tag-plovers","tag-ridge","tag-rocky-slope","tag-scrape","tag-shorebird","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-spring"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t