Racing killdeer

Right after my now-five-year-old granddaughter departed, I tried to assuage my sadness with a long walk. Most of Ultima's snow had already melted and, at a nearby pond, I heard the first "oonk-a-ree" calls of the newly arrived Red-winged Blackbirds. The handsome birds weren't being especially cooperative and remained high in the wetland's surrounding trees, but while I scanned the shoreline for possible photo-ops, I noticed a bit of motion on the muddy ground. When I zoomed in, I noticed a solid shorebird with two bold and black breast rings, the characteristic field marks of a Killdeer. I can say without fear of contradiction that this was precisely the bird I was looking for—Killdeer are a bit overdue in our area—so here was the noisemaker with the appropriate scientific name: Charadrius vociferans. While this Killdeer wasn't particularly vociferous, it did, when it took off, give one call in flight that is well summed up as "kill-deer." I should have been shooting at a faster shutter speed, but I rather like the image of a bird definitely, albeit it blurrily, on the go.