The Killdeer

The Killdeer
A common summer resident, which usually returns to Utah in March, is the killdeer (Charadrius vociferus). It is a member of the Plover Family (Charadriidae), which also includes Turnstones and Surfbirds. The family characteristics, according to Peterson, are: "Wading birds, more compactly built, thicker-necked than most sandpipers, with shorter pigeon-like bills and larger eyes. Call notes assist identification. Unlike most sandpipers, plovers run in short starts and stops." Cruickshank vividly describes this behavior as "running with head low, then snapping to attention with upright, military posture; head high, chest out, wings smartly at sides."

As its scientific name indicates, the killdeer is a "vociferous" or noisy plover. It is the size of a robin (9 to 11 inches). Identifying field characteristics are: brown above, white below, with two dark brown to black breast bands. In flight, its white wing stripe and golden to orange-red rump are displayed. Feet are three-toed.
The killdeer is to be found all over the United States. It breeds from Canada to Mexico, and winters in the southern part of the United States south into South America. While common along shores, mudflats, and the plowed fields, meadows and pastures of farmlands, it has adapted to park lawns, airports, golf courses, and lawns of country estates. The nest is simple, sometimes lined with a few weed stalks, chips of stone, or pebbles, but usually just a depression in bare ground, on a bald spot in a pasture or meadow, on a gravelled shore or roadway. It and the clutch of eggs (four) are so well camouflaged in color and pattern as to be missed unless the frantic parents call one's attention to its presence by their interesting antics. Nests are usually made early in spring, before vegetation is very high. There may be two broods in a season.
The eggs hatch in 27 days, and the young are able to run about soon after emergence from the shell. Jaques and Ollivier, in "How to Know the Water Birds", say of the young, "(they) seem to "yeep-yeep" almost constantly. For a day or two before they hatch, they may be heard crying within the egg." Killdeer young are known as "precocial" birds, for upon hatching they are covered with down that dries rapidly; the eyes are open, and vision and hearing are well developed. They soon leave the nest and follow their parents. At the alarm call of the adult birds, they crouch and freeze, and are not easily detected.
Killdeer are valuable birds. Their diet consists largely of insects, small crustaceans and other water life, and earthworms. Among the insects eaten are: mosquitoes, flies, grubs, grasshoppers, beetles, ticks, army worms and other caterpillars, weevils, and wireworms.
The killdeers are superior fliers, and have been clocked up to 55 mph. They are alert, and their calls often warn other birds of possible approaching danger. The loud, insistent and repeated "kill-deeah" is well known, and may be your first indication of its presence. It also makes a plaintive, rising "kill-dee-ee, dee-dee-dee" or a low trill.
This bird is well worth taking time to know, not only because it is a useful bird, but because of its interesting behavior and beauty. It is one species which is sure to be seen at any of the refuges in northern Utah.

"The least and last of things
That soar on quivering wings,
Or crowd among the grass blades out of sight,

Have just as clear a right
To their appointed portion of delight
As queens or kings."
-- Christina Rossetti

The killdeer is the common true plover of the farm country. It ranges through temperate North America, and breeds throughout its area. In winter it is found from the Gulf States south to northern South America and in the West Indies.
The killdeer (9" to 11"), earth brown above and white below, is marked by two black breast bands. In flight, its golden red rump, longish tail, and white wing stripes are visible. Other "ringed" plovers are smaller, with only one black band. At night, their eyes reflect a shining red. As it walks, it bobs its head. It derives its name from the call -- "Killdee, killdee, dee-dee-dee". As soon as the ice breaks up in the rivers and lakes in the north, the killdeer's cry is heard -- the harbinger of Spring.
Although the killdeers join other shore birds on the mud flats in migration, they nest in uplands, sometimes far from streams or bodies of water. They prefer pastures, cultivated fields, moist grassy flats, gravelly ground, and even use gravel roads, driveways and cinder beds between railroad ties for nesting sites. It is an adaptable bird, and is being seen more and more frequently in city parks, on golf fourses, and on fills.
The nest is a shallow depression with a few stones and some wood chips or weed stalks in and about it. Four buff eggs with black blotches is the usual complement. Both parents share in the incubation, which takes about 25 days. Two broods are raised some seasons. The young leave the nest as soon as they dry after hatching, and run readily after the parents. Their precocious development is possible from the large size of the eggs, which measure about 1.50 by 1.10 inches.
The concern of the parents for their eggs and young is very marked. If an intruder approaches the nest, the brooding bird may leave quietly and rise swiftly to circle screaming above. Or it flops about on the ground feigning injury, holding one wing up and beating the dust with the other, hopefully luring the intruder away from the nest.
The killdeer eats a great variety of insects including beetles, grasshoppers, earthworms, mosquitoes, ticks, and other forms harmful or annoying to man and his crops. A brood of these birds and their parents will relieve a farm of an enormous number of insectgs daily. Yet sportsmen nearly wiped out this species at the turn of the century. But farmers and conservationists have obtained game laws which now protect the killdeer. Overall, the killdeer is a very beneficial bird.
-- by Marie L. Atkinson

REFERENCES:
Field Guide to Western Birds -- Roger Tory Peterson
The Killdeer -- William Dutcher
Golden Nature Guide on "Birds" - Zim
National Geographic Magazine

Often our only interest in the birds is to observe them for marks of identification, and we miss out by not continuing to study them throughout the seasons. Anne Merrill, in her most interesting book, "Wings in the Wind", writes:

"Was it the courting dance of the killdeer, I once watched?
"The whole performance was curious and a bit comical. Intricate, too, and executed with perfect precision in spite of an accelerating tempo like the dizzying steps of a ballet finale.
"I have never seen birds run so fast as the two killdeer on that late afternoon in March when I stopped to watch their amazing ballet in a playing field across the road.
"At first there was only one bird in view, which I mistook for a shore lark because of the time, the place, and the bird's colors. But turning on my field glasses, I saw it was a killdeer plover, bobbing tiredly as if from a long migration flight. Presently two other killdeer appeared, circling overhead uttering shrill cries and coming down to land, one on either side of the grounded bird. Leaving the tired killdeer where it stood, the two fresh arrivals from the sky started the ballet, and the fun began.
"Their feet flew, even though their wings were furled. They sped side by side, in close formation like twin jets, and after twenty or thirty steps the lead killdeer would stop short, and the other bird do the same. They the first would run again, and again stop, while number two checked its own speed in a split second. This went on and on in precise repetition, while the pair covered an incredible extent of territory from one end of the field to the other. And I had to keep my glasses at the alert so as not to miss a single measure of that extraordinary dance.
"A variation was introduced into the pattern when the birds would suddenly about turn, then run as fast in an opposite direction, their steps synchronizing like trained dancers. The second one always obeyed automatically the lead's signal to stop, go, or turn. Once the two birds flew up a few inches above the ground and made excited leaps toward each other like fighting robins. But it was mostly bluff. The storm subsided as quickly as it had arisen, and the pair resumed their funny foot-work. While their wings were spread, a rich, tawny orange color flamed, and you saw killdeer in their full beauty of plumage and contour.
"The most memorable sight was whenever the running birds turned to face my lookout post, and the third killdeer came to life sufficiently to join the two in a short run. Then the three identical fronts made a striking picture with their double black necklets strung around the creamy throats, the jet bands as dazzling as zebra stripes.
"For forty minutes I stood and watched that dance of the killdeer, until dusk settled down, veiling their movements. And I shall never know how much longer they went on running, or when they grew tired and left the playing field for the night."

Utah Nature Study Society
NATURE NEWS/NOTES
March 1964 / 1971
Adapted for
The INTERNET
by Sandra Bray

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