Posted on 04/04/2023 7:57:16 AM PDT by Red Badger
A migratory killdeer bird built its nest in the middle of a utility company's parking lot in South Carolina, and officials are barred from relocating the nest by a federal law. Photo courtesy of the Berkeley Electric Cooperative/Facebook
March 31 (UPI) -- A utility company in South Carolina found a migratory bird nesting in a parking lot -- and the bird can't be moved due to federal law from 1918.
The Berkeley Electric Cooperative said an employee found a killdeer nest being tended by a mother bird in the company's parking lot, and officials soon found the nest could not be relocated due to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.
The act bans U.S. property owners from relocating "protected migratory bird species without prior authorization by the Department of Interior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."
The company decided to surround the killdeer nest with traffic cones to protect the mother and her eggs while waiting for the babies to hatch.
"It's just another way we're helping to keep the Lowcountry beautiful," the company said in a Facebook post.
By the time they investigate, the nest will be back and there will be no evidence you ever removed it.
hmm, not seeing the robin in that list- maybe the site i posted to is wrong- I’ll have to check more later-
Not odd at all!
We have lots of birds that build nests on the ground here, right next to busy highways and on the beach.
The authorities have to cordon off the nesting sites every year until the birds young are gone..............
Interesting, thanks.
Ping to OCB. Maybe you should leave those Robins alone after all.
There was a Killdeer nest in an open area of Homestead, AFB. I used to get close enough to it to provoke the mom into her broken wing act to lure me away.
I wonder if they’ve been taken off in the 2020 update.
They’d nest on roofs in Florida. And in the center of fields, 10 yards from anything. Their eggs are camo-ed as stones.
I hate Starlings, Cowbirds, and House Sparrows. They’re the invasive ones in my backyard.
I have never seen a bird nest anywhere but in a tree, I must live a very sheltered life!!
The Kildares show up in my pasture in the spring. They get real excited if you get near their chicks which are about the size of your thumb from the knuckle to the tip.
My favorite migratory birds are barn swallows. They show up about 2-3 weeks after the wasps come out. They will decimate the wasp population. They make can a huge mess, but I think their worth it, with their service they provide. I haven’t had to buy more than 1 can of wasp spray in 10 years since I stopped chasing the swallows away.
Same with bats here.
People complain about mosquitoes but chase away the bats!.......... 🙄
You’ve probably walked right by a killdeer nest… their eggs look like small stones. I’ve seen them in gravel next to roads.
They sit for about a month. Had them on my acreage before. Little ones look like big mosquitos on stilts. When born they can already eat and trot around.
I’m on the bird’s team. I donate to Auduban Society and get their magazine. So many birds are dying out, it’s just terrible. Many from chemical fertilizers sprayed on food crops.
Auduban, BTW, has very low administrative costs. Donations are used wisely.
Kind of a stupid bird to build in the middle of a parking lot. No wonder they need protecting.
It displays traits similar to a lot of Americans....
What is the Audubons policy re Wind Turbines, or as I like to call them, Bird-o-matic?
They are remarkably durable here. Every year one makes a next on the gravel driveway. There are hawks, owls, coyotes, dogs, snakes... The parents always seem to keep them at bay because soon little cotton balls are running around while parents put on their college snowflake dance to distract the predators.
I have seen them in the parking lot across from my shop which is home to an excavation company, Every year they do the same thing and the birds always seem to make it.
But now knowing their nests are protected by the feds if they are blocking companies.. Well. S.S. and S
How odd that the mother would build a nest right out in the open like that!!
That’s how they roll. The gravel lots are perfect for camouflaging the eggs. If you didn’t see the mother’s distraction you would never notice there was a nest.
It’s Audubon....FWIW-
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