I’ve seen killdeer do that several times and a few times hen turkeys do a similar monouver.
Odd day in my yard. I was going to replace a derelict 14-year-old Bluebird box on my acre and a third when, as I grabbed the post to remove the screws, out flew a female Bluebird. The box contained a completed nest. Surprise!
From our devastating mid-March ice storm, we still have a five-foot-tall pile of branches. After the city picked up most of the early cleanup, we obtained a burn permit and I was preparing to ignite the pile when out popped a Brown Thrasher from a nest inside. Surprise #2.
After reading a post about Killdeers feigning injury to lure intruders away from their nests, I witnessed a Mourning Dove drop like a rock from a major crotch seven feet up in a Willow tree. As it neared the ground, it opened its wings and began acting strangely—flipping and flopping one wing conspicuously, then fluttering the other, as if drunk or injured. I thought it might be poisoned or hit by a car. But each time I approached, it responded the same way, clearly capable of flight. Eventually it flew across the street. Looking back at where it had dropped from in the tree, I spotted two plump squabs perched in the crotch. #3
