The Case of the Missing Eggs

We feel very lucky to have access to a large space in town in which to garden.  This will be our third year getting to garden there and it has been so wonderful.

W and I went to rake the space into beds over a week ago and yesterday the boys and I went to do a little bit of planting.  We planted out half of the cabbage seedlings and lots of onions (red and yellow).  We mulched two of the pathways with trimmings from the day lilies at this house and will be on the lookout for more mulch wherever we can find it. 

There are always killdeer on this property and usually while I am working if I get too near to their nest then they try to distract me away from it by running, squawking and pretending their wing is broken.

This time I didn't even notice her nest until E pointed out to me that she was just sitting calmly.  I don't know if she is getting used to us or if she just didn't want to leave her eggs because it is close to hatch time but she didn't seem to  mind our presence at all, she just sat there and watched as I planted out some onions.  Since I always have my camera close to hand I couldn't resist taking her photo.  It is Amazing how well they blend into their environment - even though I knew where she was today (it is marked out with bamboo stakes so we don't step on her eggs) I still had to look hard each time I went by on the tractor to see if I could see her - she blends right in.

We've been busy doing lots of yard work around here working to get things into shape.  The boys found some abandoned quail eggs where they were raking and brought them to me to see (you can see them in the top photo).  We put them into an old bird nest we had and I put them right outside the front door.  The next morning I came out to look at them again (so lovely) and...they were gone.  We're not sure what took them.  My guess is a raccoon but we've had other guesses too.  Eight eggs gone!  A feast for some critter.