LAKE FOREST (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Just south of Field Two outside of Halas Hall, right under the kicking net, there is a bird: A killdeer.
It's been nesting there for at least two weeks. It does not like people. It is not ashamed to make that known.
If the Bears offensive line can protect quarterback Justin Fields like this killdeer covers its four eggs, the Bears will be just fine. And if the team is to do that, they'll need to teach their own baby bird, first-round tackle Darnell Wright, to fly. Fast.
"What I do think will help him a lot is all the veterans in the room," said Head Coach Matt Eberflus. "I say, 'veteran'; I see Braxton [Jones], who went through that same situation, playing the same position — I think that will be very helpful. Then having Cody [Whitehair], Lucas [Patrick], and Nate [Davis], all those guys who have a lot of experience is going to help him, as well."
Chicagoland is firmly within the common nesting area for killdeers, which are part of the plover family of birds.
Their voice, as the Bears have found out, carries far. If a killdeer is in distress or sounding an alarm, experts with Cornell University have written that its call can intensify from its usual "kill-deer" into a "nervous, bubbling trill."
Killdeer are known to nest in bare soil, grazed fields, and gravel. The latter has been the case at Halas Hall.
The bird's incubation period is known to last for 22 – 28 days, so it's unlikely that the eggs would hatch prior to when Chicago's mandatory minicamp ends on June 15.
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