Killdeer

For other uses, see Killdeer (disambiguation).

Killdeer
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Charadriidae
Genus:	Charadrius
Species:	C. vociferus
Binomial name
Charadrius vociferus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Oxyechus vociferus

The killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) is a medium-sized plover.

Adults have a brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with two black bands. The rump is tawny orange. The face and cap are brown with a white forehead. They have an orange-red eyering. The chicks are patterned almost identically to the adults, and are precocial — able to move around right after hatching. The killdeer frequently uses a "broken wing act" to distract predators from the nest.

Nesting

Eggs in a nest on the ground

Their breeding habitat is open fields or lawns, often quite far from water, across most of Canada, the United States, and Mexico, with isolated populations in Costa Rica and in the Pacific coast of South America. Killdeer nest on open ground, often on gravel. They may use a slight depression in the gravel to hold the eggs, but they do not line it at all, or line it only with a few stones. Since there is no structure to stand out from its surroundings, a killdeer nest blends marvelously into the background. Furthermore, the speckled eggs themselves look like stones. Like many other waders, Killdeer hatchlings are precocial birds and are able to see and forage soon after hatching.

Behavior

A parent protecting small chicks by performing a distraction display to draw attention to itself away from the nest

Female on nest in Pennsylvania, USA.

Juvenile in New Jersey, USA

They are migratory in northern areas and winter as far south as northern South America. They are rare vagrants to western Europe, usually late in the year.

These birds forage for food in fields, mudflats, and shores, usually by sight. They mainly eat insects.

Their name comes from their frequently heard call. These birds will frequently use a distraction display ("broken-wing act") to distract predators from their nests. This involves the bird walking away from its nesting area holding its wing in a position that simulates an injury and then flapping around on the ground emitting a distress call. The predators then think they have easy prey and are attracted to this seemingly injured bird and away from the nest. If the parent sees that a potential predator is not following them, they will move closer and get louder until they get the attention of the predator.

Their ability to exploit a wide range of agricultural and semi-urban habitat has helped keep them common and widespread in their range.

References

• Template:IUCN2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern.

External links

• Killdeer Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Killdeer at Enature.com -Enature.com
• Killdeer videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
• Killdeer Information and Photos - South Dakota Birds and Birding
• Killdeer Charadrius vociferus - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
• Killdeer Fact Sheet Hinterland Who's Who - Killdeer Fact Sheet; thorough overview of Killdeer produced by the Canadian Wildlife Service and Canadian Wildlife Federation
• Killdeer Bird Sound