Killdeer

Walk too close to a killdeer nest and the bird will put on a show, dragging a wing along the ground as if it were broken and crying out to lead you away. The nest itself is only a shallow scrape on gravel, and the four speckled eggs are almost invisible against the stones.

The killdeer is a plover, but it is often found far from shore, in fields, parking lots, and gravel roads. Two black bands across the chest and a loud, repeated kill-deer call make it easy to identify. It is one of the first shorebirds to return in spring, in March or April, and most head south to the southern United States and Central America for winter.

Here are some of my favourite frames of this bird.

Photos

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