Post by William B. Hughes
Recent visitors to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge have seen that a couple of visitors have
decided to take up residence at the Visitor’s Center/Headquarters
building. These welcome visitors are
killdeer, a species belonging to a family of birds known as plovers. The bird’s name comes from its repeated loud
and strident call “kill-deer”. Its call
was the origin of an earlier name, the noisy
plover.
Although the killdeer is considered a shorebird, it is often found far from
water in grassland habitats such as fields, meadows and pastures. During the summer breeding season, the
killdeer nests from the southern United States to Canada. Nesting begins in March in the deep South,
April in the middle states, May in the northern states and southern Canada and
June in the far north. (Photo by Randall Lantz)
The killdeer’s nest is very basic--a shallow depression in the ground in an
open area with some stones (graveled roofs are used) and sparse to no grass. The depression is formed by a “scraping”
action of both the male and female bird.
The killdeer frequently uses a "broken-wing" display
to distract predators (and humans) from their nests. In the display, the bird walks away from its
nesting area holding its wing in a position that simulates an injury and then
flutters around on the ground while emitting a distress call. Predators are attracted to the seemingly
injured bird and are drawn away from the nest.
As is the case for our pair of killdeer, the number of eggs laid is typically
four. The smooth, ovate-shaped eggs are
dull tan or cream to yellow-gray in color with varied shades and sizes of
irregular darker-brown blotches. (Photo by Kathy Whaley)
The simple structure of the nest and the spots of the eggs, which disguise
them as stones, make the nest and eggs blend remarkably into their
surroundings. This camouflaging effect
is very apparent for the nest at the Visitor’s Center.
The eggs are usually arranged in the nest with the pointed ends together
and positioned downward in the center of the nest. If disturbed, the birds will restore the eggs
to their oringinal positions. Both
the male and the female incubate the eggs; the male more often at night. The eggs hatch in about 24-28 days; all four eggs
usually hatch within an eight hour period.
Killdeer hatchlings are precocial, a term applied to young birds that are able to
see and search for food soon after hatching.
For this reason, killdeer are not known to feed their young. Newly-hatched killdeer can't fly, and
they need the protection provided by the adults. They are brooded extensively during the first three days after hatching. Around one month after
hatching, the young are fledged.
The killdeer is by far the most wide-spread and well-known of North
American plovers. Other plovers that
could be seen at Hagerman, but are much less common than the killdeer, are the
American golden plover, black-bellied plover and snowy plover. These plovers are migrants that pass through
the refuge but do not nest here.
The killdeer is one of the most
successful of all shorebirds because of its tolerance for human modified
habitats, such as lawns, driveways, athletic fields, parking lots, airports,
and golf courses; and its willingness to nest close to people. However, because they live near people they
are vulnerable to pesticide poisoning and collisions with cars and buildings. Presently, the range and population of the
killdeer are considered stable.
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