A killdeer juvenile in New Jersey and a clutch of killdeer eggs – credit, (left) CC 2.0. SA Peter Massas, (right) CC 2.0. SA Вasil
From Chicago comes the story of a married couple who held up home construction to save a bird’s nest, and of the construction company who promised to halt work.
Brought to us by the Tribune’s Audrey Pachuta, Ray and Shelly Romolt fancy themselves as good neighbors and so were delighted to hear that the empty lot near their Lockport home was going to be turned into a new house.
Seeing the ‘sold’ sign driven into the dirt next door would have been a happy day, if it weren’t for the fact that the Romolts knew: someone had already moved it.
Following something of a media storm over endangered Great Lakes piping plovers along Lake Michigan’s Montrose Beach, Ray and Shelly had recently taken an interest in their local birdlife, and noticed that two adult killdeer frequented the empty lot next to their house.
Taking a walk among the weeds one day, the couple found a nest with 4 speckled killdeer eggs inside. If construction began, they would almost certainly be destroyed, and so against their yearslong wish for new neighbors, the pair began to request that work be postponed.
“We want you to stop, just for a month or so,” Shelly Romolt said her husband told an employee at the development’s model home. “And then, please, build away.”
Imagine, potentially, their surprise when a crew that had brought a bulldozer to the lot stood and diligently listened as Ray explained the killdeer was protected federally under the Migratory Bird Treaty. D.R. Horton, the building contractor whose corporate office Ray then called, suggested phoning the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for confirmation.
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Shelly did just that, and received confirmation that these birds are, in fact, protected federally, and that the building crew would have to cite a special permit to proceed, or would otherwise be liable for penalties.
“Within a day of their exchange with the conservation police, the Romolts said the site supervisor came to the lot and placed caution tape and cones around the nesting site, assuring them the company would postpone their scheduled ‘dig date’ until the birds had hatched,” reported Pachuta.
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The world conservation authority, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature down-listed the killdeer from “Least Concern” to “Near-Threatened” in 2024 after reviewing scientific reports that suggested the animal’s population would fall 20% over the next three generations; probably because of incidents like the one the Romolts sought to avoid.
The couple were impressed with D.R. Horton’s responsiveness to the situation, and told the Tribune they expected the company to keep its word.
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