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Killdeer |
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Charadrius vociferus |
| Description: 9 -11" largest "ringed" plover, brown upper, white lower, 2 black bands across breast, long tail, in flight shows rusty upper-tail coverts and rump | Habitat: Common and vocal on open grassy fields, lawns, airports, meadows, farm fields, shores, riverbanks. Usually seen flying alone in erratic flight. Utters loud kill-deer call. commonly uses broken- wing display to draw predators away from ground nest. Easily alarmed |
| Nesting: 4 pale buff-colored eggs in shallow depression or among rocks on ground | Range: breeds from Alaska, Canada, winters across Oregon, winters in south part of US but seen in north as well |
| Voice: a shrill kill-deee, kill-deee, kill-deee or dee-dee-dee | Diet: mostly insects, an assortment of invertebrates, weed seeds |
| Notes: noisy, easily spooked, best known shorebird, famous for broken wing display, males ferociously guard nest |
| When present in Oklahoma: seen all year-round in all parts of the state |