“With some protective help from the community, a pair of killdeers are proud parents of three little hatchlings.Three of the four killdeer eggs laid on the gravel shoulder of busy Double Bluff Road hatched within the past week, according to Lori Hastings, an area resident who watched over the eggs since she found them while taking her morning walk on May 12.Being so close to the road, the eggs were given little chance of surviving until they could hatch. But Hastings, with help from neighbor Brian Doherty and the county road department, placed some protective barriers around the eggs, and the entire community started rooting for them after a story appeared in the May 17 South Whidbey Record.Once they hatched they took off, said Hastings on Friday. She watched the fourth egg for a while, but it apparently was sterile. She didn’t personally see the eggs hatch, but a road crew member told her of someone who did, so the birds apparently survived. Killdeer babies can care for themselves almost immediately, said Ann Campbell, president of the Whidbey Island Audubon Society.Hastings knew of several school students who came to the site to watch the eggs, and she saw many people drive by slowly to watch the nervous mother killdeer guard her brood. They brought a lot of attention, she said. It’s pretty much a happy ending.”