Fifty Birds of Town and City
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
These birds are commonplace in appearance and not very large at a length of 10
inches, but are distinguished by piercing and oft-repeated cries of "kildee."
Killdeer breed throughout the United States and most of Canada, and winter from the
central United States to South America.
The killdeer is probably the best known of the shorebirds, perhaps because of its
contrasting colors and startling cry. It is noisy and restless, like people, but
most of its activities are beneficial to man. Its food is harmful insects,
particularly weevils and beetles, flies, ticks, and wondrously enough, mosquitoes and
their larvae.
The killdeer four pointed eggs are marked like pebbles, and laid in an unlined depression
on the ground. Such dangerous sites as gravel roads, quarries, or even potato
patches have been used.
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