Killdeer
Charadrius vociferous

The killdeer is found from British Colombia to Peru. It is 9-11 inches long with two wide black bands on a light colored neck. The chick has only one black neck band, as can be seen in one of the additional photographs. The killdeer is related to the plover, and has long legs, a reddish rump, and red eye rings. Killdeer like open country and mixed woods, where they feed mostly on insects. They have a very plaintive "kill-deah" call.

The killdeer nests where the incubating parent has an extended view, as on the edge of the parking lot next to the wetlands. The nest is just a depression scraped in the ground by the male. Both the male and the female incubate the eggs for about 2 weeks. If the killdeer nest and its young are in danger from a predator, then the adult pretends to be injured and leads the predator away from the nest. When the predator is far enough away, the adult killdeer "recovers" and flies away noisily.

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