Rail Workers’ Concern Is for the Birds

In this industrialized era, a 1,200-ton freight train wins most contests with nature.

But at a railroad crossing on Prairie Street just east of Winnetka Avenue, steel yields daily to feathers. A pair of 3-ounce birds have the upper hand.

The tiny killdeer--a robin-like species common in most regions of the U.S.--are watching over three speckled eggs near the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. The nest, which bird-watchers call a “scrape” because of its minimal, ground-level features, is in the path of railroad workers who guide the train in and out of a nearby depot.

Union Pacific conductor Mike Osborne, a Newhall resident and bird enthusiast, noticed the eggs a couple of weeks ago and began warning his co-workers not to inadvertently scramble the killdeer’s pride and joy.

“You could step on it real easily. It’s right on the edge of the ties,” he said. “People need to become aware of their surroundings. When you live in a big place like the San Fernando Valley, there’s room to coexist.”

The rail workers soon observed the killdeer’s claim to fame: the broken-wing act. The adult birds share the incubation chores equally, monitoring the eggs from a short distance. When they perceive a threat to the nest, they get low to the ground, flutter their wings erratically and deliver a sharp series of cries, all in an effort to lure intruders away from the eggs.

“They’re funny to watch,” Osborne said. “Most of them will fly away real fast. This one puts up a fight. She kind of puffs up on top of the nest. She waits until the last minute when the boxcars are coming before flying away.”

Karen Johnson, retiring president of the Audubon Society’s Valley chapter, said the birds have been practicing their act more and more as their habitat becomes developed. Even in rural areas, they opt to build nests on flat, open surfaces. The eggs usually take 24 to 28 days to hatch.

“They choose some very unusual nesting places,” she said. “We’ve seen them in all kinds of situations, on gravel roads, on the tarmac at airports.”

She added: “There can be problems where there’s an intersection with humans. But in this case, it seems like those eggs have some good foster parents.”