Find facts and information about the Killdeer in The Aviary at the Forest Cottage.
The Killdeer plush toy with song was made by Wild Republic and belonged to their Audubon Birds collection. This unique collection of singing birds is very popular. They have discontinued making the Killdeer.
The Killdeer (Charadrius vociferous) is our largest "ringed" plover at 9 to 11 inches. Plovers are members of the Charadriidae Family.
The colors are brown above and white below, with 2 black bands across the chest, white collar, forehead and spot behind the eye. It has long legs and a relatively long tail. The rusty uppertail coverts and rump are visible in flight along with the wide white wing stripe. The voice is a shrill kill-deee, dee-dee-dee or killdeer, killdeer. The Killdeer prefers open country such as plowed fields, golf courses, and short-grass prairies, open meadows, lawns, coasts and mud flats.
The Killdeer's nest is made on the ground in just a depression lined with grass. The female lays 4 pale buff eggs (1.5 x 1.1 inches), with blackish brown spots. The young leave the nest almost immediately. These downy juveniles have only one breast band.
Killdeers feed mainly on insects, earthworms and small crustaceans.
The Semipalmated Plover is similar but has only one black bar across the chest.
If a predator approaches, a nesting Killdeer performs a conspicuous threat display, feigning a broken wing or leg, one wing flapping. Such behavior is effective in luring the predator away from the eggs or young. Once the predator is far enough from the nest or young, the Killdeer flies away to safety.
The range of the Killdeer is from Alaska southward all the way to Peru. It is a migrant in the North.
