Killdeer
Charadrius vociferus
Compiled by Cameron Kennedy
This week’s featured bird is a vocal, clever, and broad-ranging shorebird with a lot of personality and intriguing behaviors – the Killdeer! (Charadrius vociferus)
Killdeer in flight
by JoshCW Photo/Shutterstock.com
The Killdeer is very noteworthy in that it is a shorebird that has successfully adapted to be able to thrive far from the shore. You won’t need to plan a trip out to the beach, mudflats, or a body of water to go see this bird. The Killdeer is a habitat generalist and can adapt well to a wide range of open spaces. From tidal flats to suburban lawns, sports fields, grazed pastures, and even parking lots, they prefer open areas with short vegetation that is no higher than an inch tall.
Killdeer with chick in a gravel parking lot
by Tina Encarnacion/ UConn Health Center Photo
As its scientific name suggests – vociferus is derived from Latin for “noisy” or “outcry” – the Killdeer is quite the vocal bird. It belongs to the family Charadriidae (the plovers) and its common name comes from its distinct namesake call: a repeated, high-pitched “kill-deer!” which can often be heard as they fly overhead. The Killdeer will also make a piercing “dee!” sound as an alarm call should a perceived threat venture too closely.
Identifying a Killdeer
Whether you are looking at an adult or a hatchling, identifying a Killdeer comes down to recognizing a few key traits as well as paying attention to their behavior, any sounds they make, and the environment in which they are sighted.
–Body proportions: look for a medium-sized, lanky shorebird roughly the size of a robin, with a rounded head, large dark eyes rimmed with an orange-red ring, slender legs, and a pointed tail and wings.
–Plumage: Killdeer are a warm tan-brown on top and white below. A helpful field identification mark is the two bold, black breast bands that wrap around the neck and chest, paired with a black and white facial “mask.” The rusty orange feathers of their tail can be seen well in flight.
–Males vs. Females: Killdeer are monomorphic, which means the males and females look nearly identical.
–Chicks: Killdeer chicks are precocial, meaning they hatch with open eyes and are ready to start walking behind their parents around almost immediately. They look like fuzzy little cotton balls balanced on stilts, sporting just a single black breast band instead of the two worn by their parents.
Killdeer chicks are precocial, and after they hatch they are ready to follow their parents around once their downy feathers dry.
Note the body proportions of the birds, as well as the two black breast bands on the parent
by Kim Smith
Diet
The majority of a Killdeer’s diet consists of insects and other terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates. It eats beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, spiders, centipedes, ants, ticks, snails, crayfish, and mosquito and other fly larvae. Occasionally, they will snack on small vertebrates such as minnows or frogs. One of the strategies they use to catch their prey is a foraging technique known as “foot trembling”: by creating vibrations in mud or dirt, they stir up prey to the surface and can easily pick them off. As opportunistic feeders, they are also known to follow behind farmers’ tractors to snatch up the insects that are scattered in their wake.
Nesting, Eggs, and Young
When you envision a bird’s nest, you likely imagine a classic bowl-shaped structure woven from twigs and placed in a tree. A Killdeer completely flips the script. Killdeer nest directly on the ground. Before laying eggs, the pair performs a courtship behavior known as a “scape-ceremony” where the male lowers his chest into the ground, scrapes out a shallow depression with his feet, and the female takes the male’s place in the newly formed scrape. The male will tilt his body forward, raise his tail feathers, and call out rapidly. Mating typically follows. Male killdeer will usually make several scrapes in the area before the female chooses the one she prefers best for laying eggs, and they will both line the nest with bits of debris such as pebbles or shells.
The female typically lays a clutch of 4 eggs, and pairs will raise between 1 to 3 broods in a year. The eggs are gray with black speckles, which blend into the surrounding area seamlessly. They have an affinity for gravelly areas and will often choose nesting locations right in the path of human activity, such as driveways and parking lots. The parents take turns incubating the eggs for about 24-28 days.
The chicks will start walking around soon after hatching, able to feed themselves, and they will stay with their parents for protection and guidance for close to a month until they are ready to fly.
Adult Killdeer stands near its newly hatched chicks
by Lakeside Community Garden
Noteworthy Killdeer Behaviors
Because they nest in open areas, Killdeer have evolved remarkable behaviors to help protect their investment. They are famous for their incredible acting talents, and when a potential predator moves too close to the nest, the adults will move away from the nest, performing their “broken wing” display to divert attention away from the eggs. They emit continuous pathetic, shrill cries while dragging a wing as if it is broken, hoping to look like an easy target. Once they have successfully lured the predator a safe distance away, the “injured” bird will miraculously take flight and circle back to the nest.
Killdeer pretends to have a broken wing to draw the attention of potential predators away from its eggs or babies
by Kathleen Balsamo
However, when they nest in fields with cattle, they will employ a different strategy to protect their nest from being trampled if it is at risk. They will instead go on the offensive by fluffing up to appear larger and rushing at the cows to chase them away.
Another behavior of the Killdeer is their bobbing of their bodies, which they use when assessing the intentions of a nearby stranger or when foraging for food.
Range, Lifespan, and Conservation Status
While the Killdeer is a medium-distance migrant in the many parts of its range, here in Central Texas, the Killdeer is a year-round resident.
It also happens to be the largest member of the plover family you will see locally in Travis County. In the wild, these birds have an average lifespan of 3 to 5 years.
While Partners in Flight lists the Killdeer as a species of “relatively low conservation concern,” their populations have declined by around 26% between 1966 and 2019.
Humans are responsible for significantly altering landscapes in which birds have historically evolved alongside, and while the Killdeer has been able to adjust much better to these large-scale changes than many other species, our presence on the landscape does threaten them. Living in proximity to people means they face distinct modern threats: habitat destruction and degradation, disturbance of their ground nests, vehicle strikes, outdoor cats and dogs, and being poisoned by pesticides.
How to help Protect our local Killdeer
By adopting a few simple habits, we can help protect our Killdeer neighbors right here in Travis County.
–Watch for nests: keep alert when walking through gravel parking lots or open park fields between March and August.
–Traffic cone strategy: if you discover a Killdeer nesting in a high-traffic area such as a gravel driveway or school field, place a few traffic cones a few feet around the nest site. While this might slightly draw the attention of more intelligent predators, it effectively safeguards the nest from its greatest threat: being crushed by an oblivious human or car.
–Practice backyard stewardship: keep domestic cats indoors, supervise dogs in open areas during the nesting season, and steer clear of using any lawn pesticides that contaminate their primary food source.
The traffic cones placed at Bentsen-Rio Grande ValleyState Park help ensure cars and visitors won’t accidentally destroy this Killdeer nest
by Cameron Kennedy
Where to see Killdeer in Travis County
The Killdeer is a wonderful reminder that great spectacles of nature aren’t reserved solely for remote outdoor spaces, in fact, they may be hanging right in our neighborhood parking lots!
Because Killdeers love wide-open spaces, short grass, mudflats, and gravelly ground, Travis County offers several wonderful birding hotspots where you are likely to get a sighting! A few good areas to explore where people regularly report spotting Killdeer are Roy G. Guerrero Colorado River Metro Park, Richard Moya Park, and Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory.
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