Killdeer: A bird that calls its name!

On a visit along the Kootenai River by the ramp of the Sheriff dock west of Bonners Ferry I saw a Killdeer exemplifying the broken-wing display.

The adult Killdeer was in the gravel beside the bank as I approached. To my surprise the Killdeer suddenly developed a broken wing. He struggled in front of me, I further approached him, and he struggles as if he could barely walk, let alone fly. One or both wings drag pitifully on the river bank. I felt the instinct to rescue the Killdeer, but one further step and the Killdeer manages to keep another step away from me. As I pursued the bird, the Killdeer leads me farther and farther away from its downy Killdeer babies crouching on the ground half hidden under a tiny bush that I hadn’t seen.

When the mother Killdeer felt that the four young were safe from me, its broken wing heals suddenly, and the bird flies away, calling a loud “KILL-DEER” that sounds like a jeer.

Seeing fluffy Killdeer chicks is one of the pleasures of summer. Although they are lively right away, just-hatched Killdeer are like new fawns, a bit tottery and clumsy on their overly-long legs.

Newly-hatched Killdeer can’t fly, and they need their Killdeer parents for protection and guidance but they are a lot closer to independence than most baby birds. These four chicks, only a few days old with bright eyes and fluffy feathers, were a delight seen scurrying on the river’s’ edge. Once they stopped I had trouble identifying them as they become camouflaged in the surrounding river bank. Mother immediately came to the rescue, leading the four chicks off to safety.

The Killdeer is an upland shorebird with two black bands around the neck like a necklace with a brown back and white belly. In flight the bright reddish orange rump is visible and the species has a very distinctive “kill-deer” call, hence the name. A shorebird you can see without going to the beach, Killdeer are graceful birds common to lawns, golf courses, athletic fields, and parking lots. These slender birds run across the ground in spurts, stopping with a jolt every so often to check their progress, or to see if they’ve startled up any insect prey. Their voice, a far-carrying, excited kill-deer, is a common sound even after dark, often given in flight as they circle overhead on slender wings.

The Killdeer is often seen in dry, flat landscapes, running and halting on the ground in search of insects and earthworms. Although the Killdeer is common around human habitation it is often shy, at first running away rather than flying. When a Killdeer stops to look at an intruder, it has a habit of bobbing up and down almost as if it had hiccupped. Near the nest, Killdeer distract predators by calling loudly, bobbing and running away.

The Killdeer feeds primarily on invertebrates, such as earthworms, snails, crayfish, grasshoppers, beetles, and aquatic insect larvae. They follow farmers’ plows in hopes of retrieving any unearthed worms or insect larvae and they will also eat seeds left in fields. The Killdeer is an opportunistic forager and they have been observed hunting frogs and eating dead minnows.

The clutch size is from 4-6 eggs and the number of broods is 1-3 with the incubation period from 22-28 days. The eggs are buff-colored, with heavy markings that are blackish-brown in color. The chicks’ condition at hatching is a full coat of buffy down feathers and a single black breast band. They are surprisingly mature and can walk out of the nest as soon as their feathers dry.

The oldest recorded Killdeer was a least 10 years, 11 months old when it was recaptured and re-released during banding operations.

It’s worth keeping an eye out in Boundary County for Killdeer over the next couple months, on the chance of glimpsing the adorable chicks.

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