Killdeer's Klutch Traditional Cache
Skookum Bear: As there has been no response from the cache owner, I am regretfully archiving the cache.
If the cache owner would like to replace a cache at this location, please submit a new geocache listing and it will be reviewed under the current Geocaching guidelines.
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Difficulty:
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Size: 
(micro)
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Killdeer's Klutch is a micro cache in an untraditional container.
There is no need to turn over any stones. This cache is not hidden,
just camouflaged well. Good luck!
The Precocious Killdeer.
Baby killdeer always come out running. They hatch with their eyes
open, and as soon as their downy feathers dry, they start scurrying
about, following their parents and searching the ground for
something to eat. Newly-hatched killdeer can't fly, and they need
their killdeer parents for protection and guidance, but they are a
lot closer to independence than most baby birds.
Baby birds that hatch with their running shoes on are called
precocial. Precocial means "ripened beforehand." (The word comes
from the same Latin source as "precocious.") Other precocial birds
besides killdeer are chickens, ducks, and quail. None of these
precocial babies lies in the nest and gets waited on. Birds that
hatch blind, naked, and helpless are called altricial, which comes
from a Greek word meaning "wet nurse." Robins are altricial, as are
blue jays, cardinals and most other birds. The hatchlings lie
helplessly in their nests, relying utterly on their parents to
bring them food and push it down their throats. It's two weeks or
more before they mature enough to leave the nest, and even after
they leave it, their parents are still feeding them.
Precocial birds stay in the egg twice as long as altricial birds,
so they have more time to develop. A one-day-old killdeer chick is
actually two weeks older than a one-day-old robin nestling.
Although adult robins and killdeer are the same size, a killdeer's
egg is twice as big as a robin's. There's more nourishment built
into the killdeer egg, to sustain the embryo for its longer time in
the shell. Killdeer nest on open ground, often on gravel. They may
use a slight depression in the gravel to hold the eggs, but they
don't line it at all, or line it only with a few stones. Since
there is no structure to stand out from its surroundings, a
killdeer nest blends marvelously into the background. Furthermore,
the speckled eggs themselves look like stones. The parent killdeer
start sitting on the eggs to incubate them as soon as all the eggs
have been laid. The killdeer embryos inside the first-laid three
eggs do not start developing while the eggs are sitting out in the
cold. But when they feel the warmth of the parent killdeer, all
four killdeer embryos start developing at the same time. So even
though the first-laid egg spends a longer time in the shell than
the last-laid, all the killdeer chicks have the same development
period. It takes 24 to 28 days of incubating for the chicks to
hatch. The killdeer is a bird that gets along well with man, taking
advantage of whatever habitat man provides or preserves, field or
unpaved road or rooftop. It also appreciates the water's edge,
though, and it can often be found on the shores of ponds and lakes.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Guvax yvxr n Xvyyqrre, naq jngpu lbhe fgrc!