Rural Perspectives: The killdeer lives in areas with short vegetation
by Diane Constable
The killdeer plover (Charadrius vociferus) is one of the common shorebirds. It is found in places other than a beach. It lives in various flatland areas such as short fields, lawns, parking lots and golf courses—anywhere the vegetation is not more than 1 inch.
The killdeer plover gets its name from its call, as it sounds like it is yelling kill-deer. It runs about in spurts and stops, and if a predator gets too close to its nest or to the babies, it will suddenly develop a broken wing and limp away from the nest to grab the predator’s attention so it will follow the bird and leave the kids alone. If the predator is large, the plover will throw its tail over its back, puff itself up, and run menacingly toward the larger animal to scare it off.
The killdeer mates for a season, with the male courting the female by scraping out a small depression in sandy ground. If it is suitable, the female will sit in this 3-inch future nest site. Four to six eggs are laid, which is when the two start working on the nest by decorating the edge with pebbles and small sticks. Both parents share in the incubation, and the eggs hatch in 22-28 days. As soon as their buffy down feathers are dry, the young are ready to walk out of the nest, looking like cotton balls on small toothpicks. They will live about 10 years.
Their main diet consists of earthworms and insects, insect larvae, snails and beetles. They are fond of following the farmer’s plow to find morsels of food.
Fun Fact: Some of the killdeer plover populations migrate in what is called leapfrog migration. Those that live in Canada and the northern USA tend to migrate to Mexico and South America, while those in the southern states stay put all year.
As an avid photographer, Diane Constable regularly puts her formal education in both nature and photography to good use. Diane also enjoys gardening and her dogs. She serves on the board of the Ann Arbor Dog Training Club and is editor of the club’s newsletter.
