KILLDEER
HABITS
_Contributed by Charles Wendell Townsend_
It may be said of the killdeer that it is probably the most widely
distributed and best known of all our shore birds. Unlike most of
the group, it is not confined to the borders of lakes and of the
sea but is found in meadows, pastures, and dry uplands often many
miles from water. Unlike, also, the majority of our shore birds,
its sojourn here is not limited to the migration periods, for it
breeds and winters throughout a large portion of the United States.
It is not of a retiring disposition, and it often makes its presence
known by loud calls and cries, to which it owes both its common and
scientific names--killdeer and _vociferus_. Its strikingly marked
and handsome plumage makes it very conspicuous when it is in motion,
as is nearly always the case. In all these respects it resembles the
European lapwing, a resemblance to which both Wilson and Audubon called
attention. Wilson (1832) says that “this restless and noisy bird is
known to almost every inhabitant of the United States.”
During the latter part of the last century and early in this
persecution by shooting brought down the numbers of the killdeer so
that in certain parts of the country where it formerly bred it became
extremely rare. Thus, Forbush (1925) says:
The killdeer was once a common breeding bird in New
England. Early in the present century it became so reduced
in numbers that it was believed to have been practically
exterminated as a breeding species. * * * Legislation
protecting it perpetually has resulted in a gradual
increase of the species which is now nesting locally but
not uncommonly in the coastal region and river valleys of
southern New England.
Other evidence of a similar nature is that of W. J. Brown (1916), who
says: “Ten years ago the killdeer was a rare summer resident in the
Province of Quebec. During the past five seasons the bird has become
very numerous and is now a common breeder.”
The killdeer is one of the most beneficial of birds; it is a delight
to the eye as it runs along the field or swiftly flies and skims the
ground, and its familiar calls are pleasing. Long may it flourish
unharmed by man!
_Spring._--The migration of the killdeer is not as marked as is that of
other shore birds whose winter station is far removed from the summer
breeding grounds, for it breeds in many places where it winters. As a
spring migrant it is one of the earliest of shore birds; indeed, there
are few land birds that precede it, coming generally in small scattered
flocks, which are augmented if the birds loiter on the way. Prof.
William Rowan writes of its migration at Edmonton, Alberta:
It is the first wader to come North in the spring and the
last to go South in the fall. It may arrive as early as the
middle of March and stay till the middle of November. These
are remarkable dates for a shore bird in this country,
since the lakes remain frozen as a rule till the end of
April and exceptionally right into May. Even the rivers may
remain solid till the middle of April.
Lynds Jones says that the killdeer, robin, and bluebird arrive about
the same time in Ohio. M. P. Skinner writes of the killdeer in the
Yellowstone Park that--
Usually this bird arrives on warm mornings, but on one
occasion they came on a morning when the thermometer
registered below zero, but a few hours later at 10 o’clock
there was a sudden change and the temperature shot up above
40° F.
The killdeers migrate by day and also by night, their calls proclaiming
them during the darkness.
_Courtship._--The most noticeable courtship performances of the
killdeer are those that take place in the air--the nuptial flight--but
those that occur on the ground, although less often seen, are also
spectacular.
Of the courtship in the air Dwight Isely (1912) says that in Kansas
“during the first month or six weeks after their arrival killdeers seem
to spend a large part of their time in courtship. The male will fly
back and forth over a field giving its cry sometimes for over an hour
without intermission.”
Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says of the bird near Charleston: “During very
cold weather the killdeer rises several hundred yards in the air,
hovering on almost motionless wings and uttering its far-reaching
notes. I have known a pair to remain in the heavens for fully an
hour during the coldest weather.” M. P. Skinner of the Yellowstone
Park writes: “Although the killdeer is not a song bird I have heard
some quite musical notes and even tuneful sequences from him. On the
4th of April one was heard singing while flying low in a circle over
the nesting ground, and the performance was strongly suggestive of a
nuptial flight song.”
S. F. Rathbun of Seattle has communicated the following interesting
account of his observations on the subject:
The evolutions were participated in by both birds of the
pair that I watched on several occasions, and, as my
knowledge goes, very early in spring prior to nesting. At
this time these birds were evidently mated. As they fed
about the margin of a small pond, one invariably following
the other, suddenly the bird In the lead would spring into
the air and mount upwards by a succession of wide, sweeping
spirals, with its mate in pursuit constantly uttering its
notes in a short and hurried manner. Higher and higher was
the flight, but restricted over the certain area of the
pond until both disappeared from one’s vision, although
the note continued to be faintly heard. As I continued to
watch, the birds’ cry ceased and down from the sky I first
noted a speck falling, then both came into plain sight, one
following the other, and then both alighted. This descent
was as quickly made as if the birds fell out of the ether.
After alighting the former actions were again indulged in,
and shortly after the high flight was again made. These
actions were repeated several times during my stay of over
two hours in the vicinity.
From these reports it is evident that the courtship flight is performed
in various ways, and, as Audubon (1840) says, “It skims quite low over
the ground, or plays at a great height in the air, particularly during
the love season, when you may see these birds performing all sorts of
evolutions on the wing.”
Of courtship display on the ground Theed Pearse (1924) writes:
On two occasions that I saw one getting up he ran a short
distance and then went through what looked like a sexual
display. Crouching on the ground and leaning toward one
side with wings lowered and then opening the tail in fan
shape over the back so that the cinnamon tail coverts
came conspicuously into view, at the same time uttering a
trilling note.
Aretas Saunders (1926) thus describes the display:
Two birds would crouch side by side but facing in opposite
directions. Then they would droop the tips of the wings
so that they exposed the ochraceous patch of the lower
back, spread the tail, and tip the breast forward, slowly
lifting the wing tips till they came way above the back,
but never covered it from view. All the while they kept up
a continual call, the long-trilled note _t-r-r-r-r-rrrrr_.
The displaying birds would often begin the performance or
end it with a little fighting.
Ira N. Gabrielson (1922) reports a case where--
the male had taken his station some distance from the
female and at intervals whirled rapidly about, uttering a
curious stuttering note as he did so. Every few seconds the
female advanced a few steps toward the male, but when he
stopped to observe the effect of this display she quickly
turned her back and appeared perfectly indifferent. This
was repeated several times until the female suddenly flew
away.
This behavior of the female is very characteristic and common in avian,
as well as in other courtship. In whirling about, the brown tail
coverts must show prominently and the “stuttering note” may be another
term for the “trilling note” used by other writers.
_Nesting._--The killdeer nests in the open, generally in a situation
that gives the bird on the nest an extended view. The nest may be
close to water--river, lake, or pond more often than the sea--but it
is generally in fields a few feet to several hundred yards or even a
mile or two from water. Pastures, meadows, cultivated fields, and bare
gravelly ground are favorite nesting places for this bird. Gravel roads
and the spaces between the ties of a railroad and even a graveled roof
have all been chosen by this bird for laying its eggs.
As a rule, the ground is slightly hollowed out for the eggs and a
few chips of stone, wood, or weed stalks are placed in and about the
hollow. Within narrow bounds there is considerable variation, and
I have here set down some of the numerous nests described. Ira N.
Gabrielson (1922) says:
In this region [Oregon] the favorite nesting place was
at the base of a hill of corn. As usual, little or no
attempt was made to build a nest--a few pebbles and bits of
corn husks being the usual type. This material is seldom
concentrated into a nest but is scattered over an area of 1
or more square feet, the eggs being deposited on the ground
at some point within this area. * * * A rather unusual
nest was found. It was placed in a small depression and
carefully lined with shredded corn husks.
Harold C. Bryant (1914) reports in Merced County, Calif.--
Another nest found May 15 was unique in the fact that it
was placed in a small grassy knoll surrounded by water, and
that the cavity was well lined with short stems of devil
grass.
J. M. Bates (1916) says of nests found in Nebraska:
The dirt is scooped out the size of my hand and is laid
with thin, flat scraps of magnesian sand shale averaging
an inch long. While a few dead stems lie with the stones,
there is no appearance of design in their presence.
Charles R. Stockard (1905) says of the killdeer in Mississippi:
The eggs are never hidden in the grass or weeds but are
placed in slight depressions on the bare ground or on
short grass turf. The saucerlike depression of a nest has
scattered in it bits of shells, small pebbles, short pieces
of weeds or sticks, and often small bits of crayfish armor.
This rubbish is never arranged so as to form a real nest,
since only a few bits of it are scattered in the depression.
M. P. Skinner writes as follows of this bird nesting in the Yellowstone
National Park:
All the nests I have found were on high, dry land, although
never more than two or three hundred yards from water,
while some were within 20 feet of it. One nest was in a
depression in the meadow grass, but not otherwise lined
or showing any construction. All the other nests were
on knolls or ridges, either on gravel soil or on gray
formation; they were in depressions varying from a shallow
saucer-shaped hollow to one that was 2 inches deep by 3
inches in diameter; and in each case the birds appear
to have taken possession of a previous hollow, although
possibly deepening and otherwise forming it to their
purpose. All nests were unlined, although one had a few
sprays of sage and phlox around the edge and another had a
few shreds of dried and bleached wood scattered about.
John G. Tyler (1913), writing of the nests in Fresno district,
California, says:
A typical nest throughout the cultivated sections is
composed of a handful of white pebbles about the size
of peas and very uniform in size, mixed with an equal
number of dry shells of melon seeds of the previous year.
Frequently a few dry, broken-up pieces of melon stems are
used also, the whole being spread out over a space the size
of a saucer, with the eggs resting in the center * * *. On
the summer-fallow fields only a few dry grass blades line
the place where the eggs rest, while around the ponds of
the west side, the eggs generally lie half covered in the
powdered alkali dust without a scrap of nest lining.
W. J. Brown (1916) speaks of finding many attempts at excavating nests
in the ground not far from the real nest. He suggests they may be decoy
nests. Mrs. Henry W. Nelson (1900) reports a case where the eggs were
laid in the bare gravel driveway and were moved by the gardener to
the edge of the turf out of the way of carriages. The bird continued
to incubate. W. Lee Chambers (1901) relates the case of a killdeer’s
nest between the ties on a used railroad track; F. W. Aldrich, of one
between double tracks of a well-used railroad, and notes of a similar
case to the latter have been sent by F. A. E. Starr.
Gayle Pickwell (1925) found near Lincoln, Nebr., the nest of a killdeer
in a rubbish heap of broken glass, old bottles, and other material with
which the dark mottled eggs harmonized so closely in color that they
were invisible until closely approached. In fact killdeers’ eggs are so
protectively colored for the usual surroundings that the instinct of
nest concealment by furtive abandonment is exhibited by the killdeer as
in the case of most shore birds.
The most unusual case of the nesting of the killdeer is that observed
by Mr. Pickwell (1925) in the same locality on the gently sloping
tarred and graveled roof of a race-track grandstand, some 50 feet above
the ground. The eggs were laid in a slight cup-shaped depression among
the crushed stones. Close observation showed that the relative position
of the eggs in the nest was changed daily between 10.30 a. m. and 3 p.
m., and it was not unusual to find them with their points away from
the center of the nest. The young were found on the ground near the
building while still but feeble walkers. In what manner the old ones
transferred them from the roof was not observed.
_Eggs._--[AUTHOR’S NOTE: The number of eggs in a set is almost always
four, but five and three have been found. Mr. Pickwell (1925) says the
roof-nesting killdeer “laid at least three clutches of eggs during the
season extending from early April to the last of June, and she may have
raised two broods.” The eggs are ovate pyriform in shape, usually quite
pointed, and they have no gloss. The ground colors vary from “light
buff” or “cream color” to “cartridge buff” or “ivory yellow.” They are
irregularly spotted, blotched, or scrawled, often quite boldly, with
blackish brown or black; some eggs have “sepia” blotches and some a
few underlying spots of “pale drab gray.” The measurements of 92 eggs
average 36.3 by 26.6 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes
measure =41.5= by 27, 39.5 by =28= and =33= by =25= millimeters.]
_Young._--The incubation period according to the observations of J. A.
Spurrell (1917) is from 24 to 25 days; according to Ira N. Gabrielson
(1922) it is 25 days. J. M. Bates (1916) found it to be 26 days and
Althea E. Sherman (1916) found that 28 days elapsed between the laying
of the last egg and hatching.
Both sexes incubate (F. L. Burns, 1915), and both take care of the
young. Robert B. Rockwell (1912) relates the following:
“Mr. [L. J.] Hersey was fortunate enough to see one set of eggs hatch.
He says the parent birds carried every bit of shell away from the nest
within two hours after the hatching.” As soon as the moisture has dried
from the down, the young are on their feet and leave the nest and the
parents often lead them to the nearest water. They bob and call at an
early age. Althea R. Sherman (1916) had watched a nest very closely
from the beginning, but she says of the young: “So protective was their
coloration, so adroit was parental management that they were not seen
after leaving the nest until they had attained the size of adult house
sparrows.” The young often escape notice by lying motionless on the
ground. At such times they may sometimes be picked up without showing
signs of life.
Both parents play the usual wounded-bird act to beguile the intruder
from the eggs or young. The following detailed account by Ira N.
Gabrielson (1922) is worth giving here:
It is impossible to approach the nest on foot without
alarming one or other of the birds, as one was always on
guard some distance away. At the appearance of a person
walking, the one on guard would fly in a circle about the
nest, giving the alarm, at the first note of which the one
on the nest ran rapidly until some distance away and then
took wing to join its mate in circling about the intruder.
A man ploughing corn was viewed with absolute indifference
by both birds, the team often passing down the row next
to the nest without disturbing the sitting bird. At an
alarm, however, both birds flew about the field unless
the intruder persisted in approaching the nest. In such
a case one of the birds dropped to the ground near the
person, invariably on the side away from the nest, and
fluttered about apparently in the greatest distress. The
attitude most frequently assumed was as follows: one wing
was held extended over the back, the other beat wildly in
the dust, the tail feathers were spread and the bird lay
flat on the ground, constantly giving a wild alarm note.
This performance continued until the observer came very
near when the bird would rise and run along the ground in a
normal manner or at most with one wing dragging slightly as
long as pursuit was continued. If the observer turned back
toward the nest, however, these actions were immediately
repeated. When the parents had succeeded in luring the
intruder about 100 yards, they seemed satisfied as they
then flew away.
M. P. Skinner found that when he scared one bird from the nest, the
mate was apt to steal around behind him and take its place on the nest.
He says that
In addition to their broken-wing tactics, both of the
killdeer at times would pretend to brood anywhere on the
foundation, evidently to lead me to think that that was
where their nest was. * * * On one occasion I found an
adult with one young about four days old. The youngster ran
under the old one and into its feathers; then the old bird
squatted down, covering it. Just then I saw the other bird
come running and exchange with the first parent, nestling
down over the youngster.
While the broken wing tactics are used by the birds for man, dogs,
and other predatory animals, in order to draw them away from the eggs
or young, quite different tactics are used for browsing animals that
might step on them. Thus Howard Lacey (1911) noticed that a flock of
driven goats divided. “I walked up to the place expecting to find a
rattlesnake, and found instead a killdeer standing over her eggs with
upspread wings and scolding vigorously.” Norman Criddle (1908) writes
“If the danger came from a cow or horse, the tactics were changed
and the birds with both wings and feathers spread out would run into
the animal’s face, and so by startling it drive the intruder away.”
This habit of scaring away a browsing animal probably accounts for
the following experiences related by M. P. Skinner. The change to the
broken-wing tactics appears to show great discernment and intelligence
on the part of the bird.
Twice when riding near two different unsuspected nests, the
birds got up with startled cries and faced me with their
tails spread horizontally and quivering, although I was on
horseback and towered high above them. After a few moments
they made off with pretended broken wings, limping, falling
down and fluttering.
Aretas A. Saunders (1926) observed a parent very zealous in the care of
its young:
This brood of young was accompanied by a parent. They
occupied a certain section of the shore of the pond, where
the young hid beneath the rushes when danger approached,
and ran over the mud flats at other times. The parent
remained near, and drove all other birds from the vicinity.
While shore birds and marsh birds were abundant all around
the Mill Pond, at this point they kept away because of the
parent killdeer. The parent was extremely belligerent, and
I watched it attack other killdeers, yellowlegs, spotted
sandpipers, soras, and song sparrows that happened to
wander in the vicinity. All birds seemed glad to leave the
vicinity.
_Plumages._--[AUTHOR’S NOTE: The most distinctive feature of the downy
young killdeer is the long, downy tail, black above and elsewhere
barred with “pinkish buff” and black, with long, hair-like, buffy down
below protruding beyond the rest of the tail; the forehead, chin,
throat, a ring around the neck and the under parts are pure white,
except for a tinge of pinkish buff in the center of the forehead; a
broad, black stripe above the forehead extends around the crown to
the occiput; a black stripe extends from the lores, below the eyes to
the occiput; there is a broad black stripe entirely around the neck,
below the white; the crown, auriculars, back and inner half of the
wings are grizzled “vinaceous buff” and dusky; there is a black space
in the center of the back and a black band across the wing between the
grizzled inner half and the white distal half.
The juvenal plumage is similar to that of the adult, but the head
markings are less distinct; the feathers of the nape are tipped with
“amber brown” and those of the back, scapulars, wing coverts and
tertials are more or less broadly tipped or edged with the same, more
broadly on the scapulars and wing coverts and more narrowly on the
upper back and tertials; the intermediate white band on the breast is
always more or less suffused with brownish.
The postjuvenal molt is apparently very limited and the first winter
plumage is largely the juvenal plumage modified by wear. It is much
like the adult except for the worn and faded edgings of the wing
coverts, and some of the scapulars and tertials and the tail, which
are retained. At the first prenuptial molt, which may take place from
February to June, the plumage becomes practically adult.
Adults have a complete postnuptial molt, mainly in August and
September, and a partial prenuptial molt of the body plumage in early
spring. Nuptial and winter plumages are practically alike.]
FOOD.--The killdeer is man’s friend. It consumes great quantities of
insect pests. The most complete study of its food by examination of
stomachs has been made by W. L. McAtee (1912) who sums up as follows:
“In all 97.72 per cent of the killdeer’s food is composed of
insects and other animal matter. The bird preys upon many of the
worst crop pests and is a valuable economic factor.” Of this
large proportion he finds that beetles constitute 37.06 per cent;
other insects--grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants, bugs, caddis
flies, dragon flies, and two-winged flies, 39.54 per cent; other
invertebrates--centipedes, spiders, ticks, oyster worms, earthworms,
snails, crabs, crawfish, and other crustaceans, 21.12 per cent. The
2.28 per cent of vegetable matter is chiefly made up of weed seeds such
as button weed, smart weed, foxtail grass, and nightshade. He found
that various kinds of weevils were eaten such as those of alfalfa,
cotton boll, clover, rice, white pine, etc. In a single stomach he
counted 41 alfalfa weevils.
Harold C. Bryant (1914_a_), during an outbreak of grasshoppers in
California, found that the contents of one stomach was 100 per
cent grasshoppers, and he estimated that each killdeer averaged 33
grasshoppers daily. Arthur H. Howell (1906) has found that the killdeer
is among the most important of the birds that eat the cotton-boll
weevil. Samuel Aughey (1878) found 258 locusts and 190 other insects
in the stomachs of nine birds taken in Nebraska. E. R. Kalmbach (1914)
found in the stomach of a killdeer taken in a western alfalfa field
316 weevils; in another 383. C. W. Nash (1909) has found the stomachs
of killdeers taken in orchards completely filled with weevils. E.
R. Kalmbach (1914) has also found May beetles both in adult and
grub form in the stomachs, wireworms, and insects that attack sugar
cane, corn, carrots, grape vine, sweet potato, tobacco, and sugar
beets. Caterpillars, he found to be a favorite article of diet, also
grasshoppers and crickets, crane flies and their larvae. One stomach
contained hundreds of larvae of the salt marsh mosquito. He adds:
The killdeer thus befriends man, but it does something also
for the domestic animals, not only by eating horseflies
and mosquitoes, as just mentioned, but also by preying on
ticks, including the American fever or cattle tick, which
has caused such enormous losses in some parts of the South.