Did she leave for a right fielder?
From the porch By Dwight Otwell
The killdeer haven't shown up yet. I feel abandoned.

I suspect that at least one killdeer, probably the one we named Dove, left us for a right fielder. I suppose I should explain.

For the past several years, each spring a killdeer family, birds with long legs, black bands around their upper chests and a distinctive piping call, has taken up residence in the Sentinel's back lot.

We have kept careful eyes on these birds, as they make nests on the ground. The first year I became aware of them, they made a nest in the gravel against the building. Davie and Dove sat on their eggs in the heat of day and during rainstorms.

The birds take turns sitting on the eggs. If we walk close to the nest, the killdeer not on the nest will try to lure us off. He will stay a short distance ahead of us and pretend to be injured by dragging himself along on the ground. Sometimes, he sits and drags his wings like they are broken. If this doesn't work, the killdeer on the nest will get within arms' reach and pretend to be hurt. Of course, their acting always worked with us. Every time, we were lured away from the eggs.

The killdeer have about four chicks, who can move around and feed themselves shortly after birth.

Last year, the killdeer built their nest in the bushes next to the Murphy Medical Center Urgent Care Center in back of our building.

I loved to hear the killdeer greet me with their shrill cry when I walked out the back door. The official name for killdeer is "Charadrius Vociferou". The dictionary defines vociferous as shouting noisily, clamorous. That is an apt description. The killdeer sure don't try to hide. Sometimes, when I took a short stroll, a killdeer would walk along with me, keeping a safe 20 feet away.

The killdeer were interesting and it was fun to see the little ones, about a month after birth, fly away into their own killdeer adventures, leaving their parents empty nesters.

Maybe the killdeer simply haven't arrived from their winter vacations yet. But recently I was covering baseball and softball games between Murphy and Hiwassee Dam High Schools. I walk between the baseball and softball fields to get photographs of the games, being played simultaneously.

I was at the baseball field beside Hiwassee Dam High School when I heard the familiar piping sound of a killdeer. The bird soared low over the field several times.

Later, I heard the cry again and spotted a killdeer in right field. I wondered if it was Dove. I assumed that the bird wasn't a member of the team, because there was a right fielder about 25 feet from the killdeer.

The killdeer strolled nonchalantly around in right field and didn't seem to mind the closeness of the Hiwassee Dam fielder. The killdeer didn't even seem to be nervous about the team's nickname, the Eagles. In fact, I wondered if Dove had a romantic crush on the right fielder.

Maybe the bird only wanted a platonic relationship, but I feel that whoever draws the interest of a killdeer is fortunate.

I am not going to be jealous over the killdeer's interest in the right fielder. It may not be Dove. It could be one of her offsprings. Anyway, I'll keep my eyes peeled for that twotiming killdeer to appear in our back parking lot.

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