For well over a month I have heard the call of the killdeer as they arrive once again to plot out a territory with-in the nursery. These vocal birds are technically shore birds, although they are found far inland, breeding from Alaska to Newfoundland and south. Their call is a high pitched killdee(r), the reason for their common name. Scientifically known as Charadrius vociferus which means "talkative plover", there are 62 species of plovers, split by lowland and upland. The killdeer is closely related to the American woodcock and the numerous sandpipers, wonderful birds to watch as they poke and prod for food with their thin bills and long legs.

The killdeer is particularly entertaining as it feigns a broken wing whenever an intruder comes too near the nest. As soon as they have convinced you to follow them and distance yourself from their spartan ground nest, they fly away or return to their clutch of eggs. But wait, the act may not be over as they have been known to fake sitting on a shallow indent on the ground (if you persist), again distracting the observer from the true nest which is really nothing more than a slight depression on rocky ground. Given the lack of work spent on nest building and that the eggs lay directly on the ground, I have always wondered how killdeer could possibly manage to raise any young. As it turns out there are several reasons why they succeed, only one of which includes their dramatic flailing about as one wing is splayed and piteous cries draw your full attention.

The job of raising young is shared by both parents and a couple may raise two clutches a year. Each clutch can contain from 3 to 6 eggs, there are usually 4. The eggs are marvelously camouflaged, very hard to find which is aided by the fact that little was done to actually build a nest. The idea is to blend in with the surroundings, the eggs are slightly speckled, like the surrounding rock. The embryo within the eggs will not begin to develop until they feel the warmth of the parent killdeer, hence the first egg may sit longer than the last egg, but all of the eggs will begin to develop at the same time, subsequently hatching at the same time which takes 24 to 28 days. The eggs are sizable which is typical for precocial birds. There are two types of baby birds, one precocial, and the other more common type altricial. Precocial translates to "ripened beforehand" which means the young hatch with their eyes open and are able to leave the nest immediately. Young (newly hatched) killdeer are equivalent to a two week old altricial baby bird. The eggs are larger as there is more nourishment built into the killdeer egg, sustaining them for a longer time. The word altricial comes from Greek and means "wet nurse" as altricial baby birds are born with their eyes closed, blind and naked, they are helpless and need their parents to feed them. Eggs in this case are usually smaller, examples of altricial baby birds are robins, blue jays, and cardinals. The newly hatched killdeer are capable of standing and are ready to leave the nest immediately. Albeit they will wobble a bit on long new legs, they are marvels in design as they leave with their parents, seeking more cover and food. The average territory per killdeer pair is one acre and they clearly benefit from manmade habitats, raising their young in ballfields, unpaved roads, and roof tops. We have actually seen them scrape out a small nest in a 1 gallon potted plant.

We are at the verge of the killdeer's winter distribution which means they can be found here year round. Many of the winter resident killdeers will move further north as summer populations return. I usually hear the call of our returning males in early February as they restake their territory. Couples will stay into November.

Not only are these birds entertaining they are beneficial as their primary diet consists of weevils, grasshoppers, beetles, ticks, mosquitoes, flies, army worms, and other noxious insects. These sentinels of the bird world are good to have around and clearly one needs't worry about their ability to survive.