Hello list,

Friday evening, I was told about a very early nesting record for the
Killdeer (Location OBBA Block 50C2NE)  Sec. 34, PlainTwp. Wayne County Ohio
@ ~42D 44' 14" N, 82D 02' 20" W.

On Saturday evening the nest of was found by me and contained 4 eggs. Per my
sister-in-law, the bird started incubating on the 22nd or 23rd. The bird was
last seen incubating
circa 7:30 a.m. on Friday (with 3-4 inches of snow on the ground). However
she has not seen the pair after 9:30 a.m. on Friday. It is unknown whether
or not the nest
has been abandoned.

Checking in the OBBA Atlas I, the earliest nesting record (nests with eggs)
was in Cincinnati on March 24 and another record in Cleveland on March 31st.

Working backwards with a little Killder life history thrown in, this pair
probably started egg laying circa 17th or 18th of March. Allowing for
several days of nest building (there was
also an apparent unused scrape with 20 feet of the actual nest) in a
driveway of peasized limestone gravel. The surrounding habitat is a house
(within 50-100 feet) and surrounding
bluegrass lawn in otherwise agricultural fields.

Killdeer have nested here in the recent past (the house is less than 6 years
old).

I would be interested in knowing of any other early or earlier Killdeer
nesting attempts.

Roger Troutman

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