The Duel

Last Night while mowing the lawn, my husband made a new friend. As our riding lawn mower approached this particular bird, it did not fly way. The closer my husband inched the tractor, The bird stood its ground. Then, very unexpectedly, it dropped to the round and began flailing it's wings and squawking.
"Babe!" my husband called "I think this bird is hurt!"
Ok. What do you think we should do about it. I thought, as I watched the dramatic death scene on my lawn.

(it is hard to see the bird, but this is Act I: The Death)

My husband backed the tractor up a few feet. Then, the bird jumped up and cautiously hopped after the tractor.

Ok, so I stand corrected. The bird is not dying, it is committing suicide.

My husband, also finding this odd, inched towards her again. She puffed up her chest, squawked a very menacing squawk at him, then dropped to the ground and began writhing around again.

Wow, this bird is going for an Oscar.

It was then that we noticed these right behind her.

Aha. So that is what she was trying to do. After some bird watching lessons from my brother in law, we discovered she is a Kill Deer. She pretends she is hurt, to distract us from her eggs. .

I consider the bird, her eggs and my husband very lucky. My husband just about tried to pick her up to try and help her. She just about pecked his eyes out, and her eggs may have been motherless after I got done with her.

I consider it a win win, we now have cute baby birds to watch and my husband has both his eyes.