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Killdeer

Charadrius vociferus

Description:

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.

Habitat:

The range of the Killdeer spreads across the Western Hemisphere. In the summer, Killdeer live as far north as the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, the Yukon, Quebec, as well as the southern parts of the U.S. state of Alaska. Killdeer hold a year-round presence across the southern half of the United States and parts of Peru. The Killdeer winters throughout Central America. Although Killdeer are considered shorebirds, they often live far from water. They live in grassland habitats such as fields, meadows, and pastures.

Notes:

I spotted these 2 chicks while road cruising for amphibians and reptiles a few summers ago. They were trotting along a rural gravel road and allowed me to snap a few photos before disappearing into the grass.

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2 Comments

Jack Settle
Jack Settle 11 years ago

Nice! I watched one building a nest in the Lowes parking lot for a while. I have video of it displaying its "broken wing" display when I got too close to its nest. There were 4 little eggs, and after a while, they were gone and I assume they hatched and grew up and left (I didn't check on it that often).

ceherzog
ceherzog 12 years ago

Awww...babies, so sweet!

Aaron_G
Spotted by
Aaron_G

Bartlesville, Oklahoma, USA

Spotted on Jul 10, 2008
Submitted on Jan 28, 2012

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