Killdeer
Charadrius vociferus
Identification Tips:
- Length: 8 inches
- Medium-sized, long-winged shorebird
- Short, fairly thick dark bill
- Legs flesh-colored
- Red eye ring
- White forehead and white stripe behind eye
- Brown face; black lores and upper borders to the white forehead and collar
- White collar
- Brown cap, back and wings
- White breast and belly
- Two black breast bands
- White wing stripe at the bases of the flight feathers is visible
in flight
- Rust-red rump
- Brown tail with black subterminal band, white terminal band and
barred, white outer tail feathers
- Tail extends beyond wing tips at rest
- Sexes similar
- Juveniles similar to adult
Similar species:
All other plovers lack the two black breastbands. Very young
Killdeer have a single breastband and could be confused with
Piping, Wilson's, Snowy or Semipalmated Plovers, but
are usually still downy, have black bills (any Piping or
Semipalmated Plover having a breastband will also have an orange
bill with a black tip), and are colored above like the adult
(eliminating the paler Piping and Snowy).
Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.