Grassy fields beckon nesting birds

After the recent rains, the grass in my pasture is growing again. It seems impossible that when livestock eats grass to the bare ground and it stays that way for months on end, in 113-plus degree weather, how in the world a little water can turn it green again.

But it has, thank goodness. My grandson, the high school Ag Science student, took samples of soil from the middle of the field, had it analyzed at school and found it was lacking sulfur. So, he coated it with a sulfur-based fertilizer.

Today, the grass is a darker, richer-looking green. We can tell because the narrow strips are a lighter green where the fertilizer didn't overlap as he walked the applicator machine back and forth.

The green grass is growing taller each day. I noticed this while sitting on my deck sipping a cup of coffee and gazing out over the field. Suddenly, two small objects zipped by. I hadn't focused on them, so it was a blurry motion. The next time they swooped to the ground, I paid more attention and discovered it was my favorite Kill Deer friends that I apparently encroached on when I built my house smack dab in the middle of their field. It was in the spring of 2003 that I first noticed the pair that had built a nest somewhere in the tall vegetation. Weeks passed and the framing of the house was taking shape. Once everything dried by midsummer, the birds had already left the area. That fall, I cultivated the field and planted grass seed for the horses to eat. When the next spring arrived, so did the birds. This time they had to share the field with two four-legged creatures that weren't looking out for anything in their path. I hoped and prayed the birds would have the sense to build their nest on the outside edges of the field, not in the middle like they were accustomed to doing.

One day, I noticed one of the Kill Deers floundering with it's wing flopping about as if broken. I knew these birds went into all kinds of antics to distract someone or thing from becoming too close to the nest they had created in the grass. I'm telling you I searched that field trying to find eggs that might be in danger with those pounding hooves thrashing about. The bird has successfully annoyed the horses to the point they meandered away to the far side of the field.

A few days later, I was walking the field and came upon a cluster of tiny blue-colored eggs in a ground pocket that seemed to once have been occupied by a smooth, round rock. There they were - three tiny eggs and two parents going ballistic because I had discovered them. I truly was beside myself as tried to figure a way to protect them. Well, I locked the horses up for a while to keep them off the field and waited, and waited. It seemed the eggs were not going to hatch. I decided to chance it and let the horses back on the field. Another week went by and the Kill Deer parents flew in and out of the nest, apparently taking turns babysitting the eggs I thought were never going to hatch. On one of the coffee-sipping mornings I was watching the breeze blow the now much shorter grass and I saw three little specks moving about. Closer attention proved that I was far from right in my thinking the eggs were rotten. The Kill Deer babies had hatched from those three tiny eggs. Now they were scurrying about all over the place, following close to mom. I don't know how they managed to survive dancing hooves. Each day the horses would go the field and romp, rip and tear about like crazed beasts. How those steel horseshoes missed the nest is beyond me.

The other day, four years from that first pair of Kill Deer birds that inhabited my property, two adult birds are again milling about the same field as if seeking a place to build a nest. They could be the original pair, I suppose, but my grandson thinks it's the offspring or grand-offspring of that original pair.

All I know is that here we go again.

I feed birds in my hanging feeders each spring. They need quality nutrients to ensure they produce healthy baby birds.

I'm not sure how to feed Kill Deer birds, but I suppose if seed is tossed into the field they can have a decent chance of getting it. But my biggest concern is - you guessed it - those eggs surviving sharing the pasture with horses wandering about.