Farming, in a lot of ways, can seem like a quest to dominate or tame the land. There are plenty of farmers who take an attitude of bending the land to their will, which can be extremely destructive. Ultimately, working in harmony with the land is more productive and sustainable.
One of the major challenges to working in harmony with the environment comes from working with the community of animals that inhabit an area. Animals want to eat what farmers grow. Farmers need the animals not to eat all of the things they grow so enough crop can be taken to market. So a balance must be struck
However, there are instances when wildlife can take priority over farming. Take the case of the Killdeer bird for example. Killdeer are a Plover that nest on flat ground. They will lay a clutch of eggs in any open space that they find suitable, whether it is really suitable or not.
Today, on the school farm, we were checking on the onions that survived a resent frost. That’s when we discovered the Killdeer eggs in the middle of a row. Now, this is not just a novel discovery. Based on the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, the Killdeer and their nests are protected and can not be moved or damaged due to federal protection. Infamously, the Killdeer have shut down construction sites and delayed sports field uses because of this federal protection.
Discovering Killdeer eggs on the farm simply means we need to be careful around that spot of the onion patch. Killdeer eggs hatch in between 22 to 28 days, so they will be long gone before the onions themselves are ready to come out of the ground since they will take another couple of months to mature for harvest.
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