……the killdeer! Yep, I’m talking about birds again! Isn’t this one a bit of an odd bird? But also beautiful! This is a killdeer. Its name comes from the shrill kill-deer sound it makes, often while in flight. And why should it win an Academy Award? Well, I’ll get to that later. The killdeer belongs to a group of birds known as plovers, which happen to be shorebirds. And that’s part of what makes this bird a little unusual to me. None of these pictures of killdeer were taken anywhere near any type of shore. Like other shorebirds, the killdeer are often found on dry land, living and nesting in driveways, lawns, parking lots, and other areas with short vegetation.
The killdeer nest is really just a slight depression on bare ground and may have other scraped out areas nearby as decoys. The killdeer usually lays its speckled eggs in a bare nest and then adds other items later, such as pebbles, twigs, or even trash. This practice helps the eggs to blend in with their surroundings, even though it would seem that a driveway or lawn couldn’t be very protective. I’ve never been lucky enough to see any baby killdeer in person, but I have seen photographs taken by others. I hope that maybe you have had the privilege of spotting some babies, because, from the pictures I’ve seen, I doubt if you will ever see anything much cuter! Killdeer babies are precocial (meaning ripened beforehand), like baby ducks and chickens. (The helpless, naked baby birds you might have seen are known as altricial.) Killdeer babies start running around and feeding themselves as soon as their feathers are dry, but they still need protection by their parents because they can’t fly until around 25 days after hatching.
Protection! An important thing for something so tiny and vulnerable. Killdeer parents have a couple of somewhat unusual and dangerous methods for protecting their eggs and chicks. A killdeer should earn an Academy Award for Best Actor for its outstanding performance in the leading role of a parent luring a predator away from its nest by pretending to have a broken wing. The photograph above and the one below both show a killdeer in the middle of its very convincing broken-wing act. (Other birds perform this act as well, but the killdeer is probably the most well-known for it.) By feigning injury, the killdeer tricks its predator into thinking it has some easy lunch ahead (or tricks a human into believing it should help the poor, injured bird). The tricky bird hobbles along until it has drawn the danger far away from the nest, putting its own life at risk to save its young, before flying away to safety.
Killdeer may also try to distract predators by shrieking loudly, bobbing up and down, and then running away. Sometimes the nest may need protection from a large animal (cow or horse) that could step on it. In such cases, the killdeer parent may fluff up and display its tail feathers over its head while running at the animal, hoping to cause the animal to move off in another direction. Again, an act that could be a risky maneuver for the parent!
As I think about the lengths to which these killdeer parents go in efforts to protect their offspring, I can’t help but think of the many scriptural references to birds gathering their broods under their wings to provide them with safety – pictures that are analogous to the security and protection we are granted by our omnipotent God! In Deuteronomy 32 (the Song of Moses), Moses recalls God’s past faithfulness to Israel and says, “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the LORD alone guided him, no foreign god was with him.” (Deuteronomy 32:10-12)
David prays to God to “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me.” (Psalm 17:8-9) In another psalm, he cries, “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.” (Psalm 57:1) Refuge! A condition of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble. David recognized from where his salvation and protection came! He knew who provided his shelter and refuge!
Psalm 91 is known as a prayer of protection that is often recited in times of hardship. I imagine that many have read and drawn comfort from these words during the trying days of this pandemic. I can’t say with certainty who wrote this psalm, (some say Moses and some say David), but that definitely does not detract from its reassuring words.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place – the Most High, who is my refuge – no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Psalm 91
The verses of Psalm 91 include the keys to accessing God’s protection and refuge. We have to trust in the LORD and make him our dwelling place – look to him as the source of our lives and our fulfillment. In Matthew 23:37, Jesus makes reference to a hen gathering her brood as he recounts the wicked acts of the city of Jerusalem – killing prophets and stoning those sent to the city. In spite of these terrible things, Jesus stated, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Again we see this beautiful image of loving protection, but it is rejected! “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” (Psalm 91:2) Trust is key. Be willing to trust and access the refuge God offers! “Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust,….” (Psalm 40:4a) (Read all of Psalm 40 for another comforting passage!)
While the words in Psalm 91 don’t promise safety and security for every believing individual in every circumstance, they do provide peace and assurance through their expressions of God’s great love and care for his people. We are all just precocial baby birds, scurrying around, trying to make our ways through this life, and needing constant protection from dangers around us – protection provided by an attentive parent, our loving heavenly Father! Just like the killdeer parents go to great lengths to protect their offspring, our God stopped at nothing to save us. He allowed his Son to die to save our souls, thus fulfilling the promises of refuge and protection in Psalm 91. Trust him! Obey him! Don’t reject him! Make the shadow of his wings your dwelling place and the refuge for your soul!
SOURCES
- https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Killdeer/overview
- https://www.birdwatching.com/stories/killdeer.html
- https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/killdeer
- https://bible.org/seriespage/god-protector-psalm-91
- https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-91/
- https://www.christianity.com/bible/commentary.php?com=spur&b=19&c=91
