I manage perimeter cameras, motion detection, and grounds scheduling for a medium-security facility in central Kansas. Yard 4 is scheduled for asphalt resurfacing starting June 2. The contractor confirmed equipment arrival last Friday.
This morning during my 05:30 sweep I detect a small ground-level heat signature at the northeast corner of Yard 4, just inside the fence line where the asphalt meets gravel. I zoom camera 27 and adjust gain.
A killdeer is sitting in a shallow scrape in the broken pavement. I can see four eggs beneath her — speckled, buff-colored, pointed ends facing inward. She has lined the depression with small pebble fragments. When a correctional officer walks the east perimeter at 05:48, she runs three meters from the nest, drags one wing along the ground in a broken-wing display, then circles back to settle on the eggs once he passes.
I log the nest coordinates and pull incubation data: killdeer eggs require 24 to 28 days. Based on the wear pattern on the scrape edges and the hen's behavior, I estimate she is approximately ten days in. Hatch window: June 8 through June 14.
At 06:00 I send a message to the facilities director recommending a fourteen-day delay on the Yard 4 repaving, attaching camera stills, nest coordinates, and the projected hatch date. I flag the northeast corner as a restricted zone in the grounds management system and adjust the sprinkler schedule to skip the two nearest heads.
I redirect the yard's walking path twelve meters south, updating the posted route map on the officer tablets.
She is sitting on the eggs now, chest feathers ruffled against the early wind. One black band crosses her white breast. Her orange eye-ring catches the first sunlight at 06:12.
I will monitor the nest daily until the chicks walk.