Fascinating Facts About the Killdeer Bird
“Ki-deah! Ki-deah!” You’ll hear this loud, piercing call before seeing the small, graceful bird flying above. The killdeer can be found all over North America from spring onward. Listen to their unusual call and learn about this odd bird’s famous “broken wing” display, nesting habits (what nest?!), and odd habits.
Where Do Killdeer Live? Everywhere!
The Return of the Killdeer may not be Hollywood-sequel material. Still, for those who keep a close eye on their local baseball field, golf course, horse pasture, airport, suburban backyard, or even public parking lot, killdeer will be coming to a place near you!
Once you can identify the killdeer, you’ll find they’re a common sight in and around towns. Killdeer are about the size of a robin, and like robins, we often see them on the ground.
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Graceful in flight and handsome in appearance, with a rusty-red tail and a series of black-and-white bands around the neck and head, you’ll most often see the killdeer speed-walking a few short, shuffling steps over open ground and then stopping suddenly as if he’s had a thought.
If his movements make you think he belongs at the beach, you’re not all wrong: the killdeer is a shorebird, a family that includes sandpipers, plovers, godwits, dowitchers, and other residents of our coasts and mudflats. But unlike most of its relatives, the killdeer breeds throughout the continent, often far from water. They’re at home anywhere. Yes, he’s a shorebird as comfortable away from water as in water!
Why Is it Called a Killdeer?
No, these birds do not kill deer! They’re named after their call, which sounds a bit like “kill-deer.” (This is similar to the chick-a-dee, also named after the sound of its call.)
The killdeer most often calls in this high, repetitive way when flying above, often just communicating with other birds; they are a very vocal species. Some folks think the call sounds sad or eerie. Some think it sounds like a leaky balloon! Rest assured that their screech does not mean they’re upset. They have a different call for warnings!
See what you think. Check out this audio clip from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
No Nest!
The killdeer makes no nest at all! The bird lays its eggs right out in the open on gravelly, sandy, or otherwise disturbed ground. When it chooses a driveway, construction site, or farm field, interaction with humans is inevitable. In fact, the killdeer seems very tolerant of humans. Unlike most birds, when humans are too close by, the killdeer will often run away first rather than fly off. And this leads to one of the killdeer’s most distinctive behaviors…
The Broken Wing Display
Approached by a person, a killdeer will startle up from its eggs, tilt itself sideways, letting one wing hang down as though broken, and limp away most pitifully. (For one of many home videos of the act, try this.) Yes, he’s faking an injury! The display serves as a marvelous distraction from the eggs, which are themselves ingeniously camouflaged with black-and-white speckling. Often, it can be difficult to pick them out from their pebbly background, even from only a few feet away.
Amazingly, the killdeer seems to discern different threats to its nest and tailors its response accordingly. While the impressive acting of the broken-wing display is useful to lure people, dogs, and other predators away from the eggs, the bird tries other maneuvers to keep the eggs from accidental trampling by hoofed animals. Arthur Cleveland Bent, in his Life Histories of North American Birds, records the following anecdotes:
Howard Lacey (1911) noticed that a flock of driven goats divided. “I walked up to the place expecting to find a rattlesnake and found instead a killdeer standing over her eggs with up spread wings and scolding vigorously.” Norman Criddle (1908) writes, “If the danger came from a cow or horse, the tactics were changed, and the birds with both wings and feathers spread out would run into the animal’s face, and so by startling it drive the intruder away.”
If you startle a killdeer near your home this spring, and you think it may be nesting, take a few minutes to determine the exact location. Back away and allow the incubating mother (or father) to return to the eggs. Later, you can mark the spot with a small flag to avoid disturbing it. The eggs take less than a month to hatch, and as soon as they do, the parents lead the chicks to a more protected area.
Photograph by Len Medlock
Even close to human activity, the killdeer can raise two broods of three to four chicks each summer. The sight of a newly hatched killdeer—a cotton ball perched on ostrich legs that almost immediately can run at great speed—will warm even the wintry heart.
Catherine Boeckmann
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I used to have a Killdeer bird nesting on my acre in my back yard ever spring several years ago. But I have not seen any killdeers on my fenced in property for many years. Perhaps it is the presence of stray cats coming into my yard, which seem to have increased in numbers over the last few years. There is a lot of new home construction going on around me, on land that was just fields for hay. Loss of habitat maybe. That seems to be our future for rural areas, at least in Texas.
3or 4 years ago we had 6to 8 young killdeer young that was close to our home for 2or 3 days I am now 83 this was the first time I had seen baby Killdeer and i stay outside a lot my wife and I watched THEM play and feed in our yard every morning while they were around
We currently have a nest in the gravel near the driveway here in Northern Calif. There are four eggs in the nest. I constructed a five foot high fence around the nest site. It comes no closer than 20’ to the nest. The mom and dad take turns sitting on the nest. They are three weeks into sitting on the eggs. Hopefully we will see chicks soon.
What a wonderful story of an amazing little bird! I have so many birds that come to feed in my yard, mostly Cardinals, but many others as well. I have heard some odd bird sounds coming from the trees, I'll keep a look out, maybe we have a kill deer family! Thank you, I love your stories ❤️
I came into contact with a Kill Deer while I was picking strawberries at Hallock's Farm in New Jersey. Something was making an awful noise really close to me and I thought some animal may have gotten into my box of berries. Another picker noticed my strange look and told me to turn around and there was this bird puffing itself up with outstretched wings just yammering at me and that is when I noticed the eggs on the ground on the straw ridden path between the strawberry rows. I will always remember this brave mother bird protecting her babies.
They nested on the gravel roof of a building I used to work on the air handlers on. I had to watch my step…
I live near Killdeer, ND and have loved these birds for years. Thought they were just a pipers and now I know their real and ironic name, such graceful and vocal birds. They’re here every summer and brave as they come.
I have seen killdeer nest on the shoulder of a Road a few years ago and another in the middle of a Driveway their property owners placed barricade around the nest to keep it safe because these Birds feed on Insects that damage crops and ruin gardens
There is a single killdeer mom who is tending the nest by herself. Is there anything I can do to help her? I've sprinkled some seed around her nest.
I will be on the look out for this fascinating bird! I really enjoy reading your article’s, thank you!
