Like the US Fish and Wildlife employee you spoke with said, killdeer are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Willfully destorying their nest is a crime. I cannot in good conscious tell you to do anything other than do your best to protect the nest, not only because purposely destroying it is illegal, but also, in my opinion (feel free to disagree) unethical.

Flag an area around the nest, wait to do the lawn install in that spot later. It may be inconvenient, but imagine the inconvenience of someone coming and destroying your babies. You’ll be grateful you did when you see how cute killdeer chicks are anyways. Of course you’ll have to watch the crew carefully, IME labor crews generally couldn’t care less about something like a nest. It may be that the disturbance of having a lawn installed around them causes the parents to abandon the nest anyways but at least you tried and you can feel good about that!

Yes, ZachS, I agree. I think I didn't state the issue with enough compassion for the bird. We saw it 2 days ago and her nest choice has created challenges for her. The other wild animals walking through our yard have caused her to defend her nest loudly. It has poured rain for a couple days and the wind is blustery, and through it, she has stayed on the nest. I called the Wildlife services because I want her and babies to survive. I was seeking a solution to the dilemma thinking someone out there might have an idea I wouldn’t have thought about.

ill postpone the lawn. I can’t wait to see the babies.

I didn’t mean to sound judgmental, so I apologize for that. I do sincerely mean that others are free to disagree with me, I know my opinion isn’t the be all end all world view.

I wouldn’t postpone the lawn entirely. Living with wildlife is a balancing act. We have to do our best balance our needs with those of wildlife and sometimes we can and other times we can’t. I think flagging the nest and just waiting on a small part of the lawn rather than postponing the entire project would be a sufficient effort that gives everyone and everything a chance to have the best outcome.

Charadrius vociferous, that’s a killdeer and very fitting species name. They are noisy about literally everything. They are also fairly resilient to adversity. If the lawn project does cause them to abandon the nest, there is a good chance they will try again somewhere else.

Let us know how it goes.