Killdeer protect young with broken wing act

The first time I heard a killdeer, it was shouting its name as it flew over my head. “Killdeer – killdeer,” it called in a high pitch.

The first time I saw a killdeer, it was strutting on the ground, complaining and pretending it had a broken wing. That’s how a killdeer behaves when an intruder gets too close to its nest. It feigns an injury and tries to lure the intruder away.

Because of it’s unusual call and behavior, I’ve come to consider the killdeer one of my favorite common birds. On cool spring evenings, killdeer will fly over wetlands, puddles, any place with a little water in it and utter their loud calls. No wonder the scientific name is Charadrius vociferous.

A killdeer is considered a shorebird, but it’s often found away from the shore. In fact, the most recent killdeer I discovered was sitting on its eggs in grass next to a gravel pathway at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe.

She was hidden, but as I got closer, the soon-to-be-mother got off her nest, walked up to me and started complaining. Four buffy eggs with black markings were laying on the bare ground. I backed away and the killdeer settled back on its eggs.

Like some other bird species, the killdeer got its common name from its call – others include whip-poor-will and chuck-will’s-widow – all three names are rather morbid, if you ask me. But when you listen, they do indeed seem to say those words.

Killdeer live in warmer climates including Florida and Central and South America during winter, and sometimes remain in southern Illinois as well. Come March, they’re back here in northern Illinois setting up breeding territory. They’re not that picky about where they nest and can be found in short grass, fields, lakeshores, sandy beaches, mudflats, agricultural fields and even gravel driveways that aren’t close to water.

Before the female lays her eggs, she and her mate engage in what is called a scrape ceremony. The male bends to the ground and scrapes a depression with his feet. The female, with head lowered, then comes to him and stands on the depression. That’s where she’ll lay her eggs, no nest needed.

In about four weeks, the eggs hatch into what are called precocial chicks. That means they are up and running and out of the nest virtually as soon as they are born. They look like fluffy miniature adults with brown back, white belly and a black breast band. Adults have two black breast bands, which the young acquire soon after they hatch.

When alarmed, they run frantically, with their mother attempting to lure a potential intruder away with her fake broken wing act.

Killdeer eat worms, snails, crayfish, grasshoppers, beetles and aquatic insect larvae. They’ve been seen following farmers’ plows to snatch unearthed goodies such as worms.

The Lake County village of Kildeer (even though it’s spelled with only one ‘l’) was indeed named after this interesting bird.