However, when the breeding season occurs, the number of birds in a locality is the usually just a mating pair.[5] Like other ground nesting birds, the females only selects a site to lay the eggs and provides no other adornment to the nest; care of the site is performed by both parents. The brooding parent will discreetly move from the site if disturbed in the first few days of incubation, but remains to defend an egg at a later stage of development. The parent will adopt its frozen posture and lay over the eggs in an attempt to hide them.