Animal
Killdeer
The killdeer is a brown and white bird with two black bands on its chest. It calls its own name: kill-dee! It lays its eggs on bare ground.
The killdeer is a plover that lives in fields, lawns, shores and mudflats from Alaska and Canada to Peru and Chile. It has two black bands across its white chest and a loud call that sounds like its name. To protect its eggs, a parent may pretend to have a broken wing and lead an intruder away from the nest.
Charadrius vociferus is a plover of the Americas: northern birds breed from Alaska through Canada and the northern United States and migrate south, while southern populations, as far as Peru and Chile, stay all year. BirdLife International assessed it as Near Threatened for the IUCN Red List (criteria A2bc+4bc; assessed 12 July 2024, published 2024): it is still abundant, with about 2.3 million mature birds, but is estimated to have declined by more than 20% over three generations, for reasons not yet known.
Photo: Alan D. Wilson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the killdeer
The killdeer is a brown and white bird. It has two black stripes across its chest.
It calls out its own name: kill-dee!
The killdeer is a plover, a member of the same bird family as the lapwings. It is brown on top and white underneath, with a white collar and two black bands across its chest. Its fairly long tail is mostly orange, and an orange patch on its lower back shows when it flies.
The killdeer got its name from its loud call, which sounds like kill-dee. It is about 20 to 28 centimeters long and weighs only about 75 to 128 grams.
Charadrius vociferus belongs to the plover family, Charadriidae. Audubon says it is instantly recognizable among plovers by two bold black breast bands and a white collar, and that its relatively long tail is mostly orange; Animal Diversity Web adds a reddish-orange rump that shows in flight and in displays, gray-brown upperparts, crown and nape, and white underparts. Males and females look alike, though breeding females may have more brown on the face (ADW).
Audubon gives a length of 20 to 28 centimeters, a wingspan of 46 to 48 centimeters and a weight of 75 to 128 grams. The name comes from the loud, piercing 'kill-dee(r)' call (ADW; Audubon).
Quick facts
- Group
- Bird
- Length
- 0.2 to 0.28 m
- Wingspan
- 0.46 to 0.48 m
- Weight
- 0.08 to 0.13 kg
- Lifespan in the wild
- 10.9 years
Fields, lawns and shores
Killdeer live in North America, Central America and parts of South America.
They like open ground: fields, lawns, parks and shores.
Killdeer live in open places across North America, Central America, the Caribbean and the north and west of South America. You can find them on grasslands, farm fields, mudflats and shorelines, and also in places people have made, such as golf courses, parks, gravel roads, airports and lawns. Some live far from water.
Killdeer that nest in the north, from Alaska and Canada to the northern United States, fly south for the winter. Farther south, many stay all year.
The IUCN text describes a migratory population breeding from Alaska south through Canada and the northern tier of the United States and wintering south through Central America, Colombia and Venezuela and along the west coast of South America to Peru and Chile, while southern populations are resident (Jackson and Jackson 2020); there is increasing evidence that it at least occasionally breeds in Central America and Colombia. It ranges from sea level to 2,500 meters.
It uses a wide range of open areas, including grasslands, mudflats, farm fields and shorelines, and thrives in human-altered landscapes such as golf courses, parks, gravel roads and urban areas (IUCN). Audubon adds airports, lawns and river banks, and notes that killdeer may live a great distance from water and that spring migration is very early, with birds back in some northern areas in February or March.
Continents
Its habitats
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Open ground, fields, lawns, shores and mudflats from Alaska and Canada through the United States, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Northern birds migrate south for the winter. Bermuda, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, French Guiana and many small Caribbean islands are also in the range but have no separate map shape. The IUCN also lists Trinidad
Places: Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Rep. and 13 more places.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Peru, Belize, Bahamas and 30 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
Run, stop, peck
Killdeer eat mostly insects.
They run a few steps, stop, and then peck at the ground.
Killdeer eat mostly insects, such as beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers and fly larvae. They also eat spiders, earthworms, centipedes, crayfish and snails, and a few seeds.
A killdeer hunts by sight. It runs a few steps, stops, then runs again, pecking at the ground whenever it spots something to eat. Some follow farmers plowing fields to catch grubs turned up by the plow.
Audubon describes a diet of mostly insects (beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers and fly larvae) plus spiders, earthworms, centipedes, crayfish and snails, and small amounts of seeds. ADW adds that berries are known from the diet and lists mosquitoes, ticks and locusts among insect prey.
Foraging is a run-pause-run pattern: the bird runs a few steps, pauses, then runs again, pecking at the ground whenever it spots something edible, and it may follow plows to feed on grubs (Audubon).
Did you know?
In hot places, killdeer parents give their eggs shade.
In very hot places, killdeer parents shade their eggs at midday and may wet their belly feathers to help cool them.
In very hot climates adults shade the eggs at midday and may soak their belly feathers to help cool them (Audubon).
Bands, collar and an orange tail
The killdeer has a white collar and two black bands.
Its tail is orange.
A killdeer's two black chest bands and white collar make it easy to tell from other plovers. Its back and wings are brown, and its underparts are white.
The killdeer has long legs for running over open ground and a pointed beak for picking up insects. Fluffy killdeer chicks may have only one black band at first.
Audubon's field marks are the two bold black breast bands, the white collar and the relatively long, mostly orange tail; downy young may show only a single black band. ADW describes the upper band encircling the upper breast and a dark band across the forehead and around the back of the head, a reddish-orange rump visible in flight and display, a long tarsus (lower leg) and a pointed bill suited to its foraging.
Killdeer are active by day and at night (ADW). Both sexes look similar.
Eggs on the ground
A killdeer nest is a little dip in the ground. The eggs have dark blotches.
The fluffy chicks can walk soon after they hatch.
A killdeer nest is just a shallow scrape in soil or gravel, sometimes lined with pebbles, grass or twigs. It is out in the open: on bare soil, a short-grass field, a gravel road, a parking lot or even a flat gravel roof. There are usually 4 eggs, buff with black and brown blotches.
Both parents keep the eggs warm for 24 to 28 days. The downy chicks leave the nest soon after hatching. The parents look after them, but the chicks find their own food. They can fly at about 25 days old.
In courtship the male flies high over the territory with slow, deep wingbeats, calling kill-dee, and pairs make ritual nest scrapes on the ground (Audubon). The nest is a shallow scrape in soil or gravel, unlined or lined with pebbles, grass, twigs or debris, in an open spot with a good view (Audubon); ADW lists farm fields, road shoulders, parking lots and flat gravel roofs. Many breed in agricultural fields: in a study of the breeding population in Nebraska's Eastern Rainwater Basin, almost all observations came from farm fields (Jorgensen et al. 2009, via IUCN).
Clutches are usually 4 (3 to 5, Audubon), incubated by both parents for 24 to 28 days; in very hot places the adults may shade the eggs at midday and soak their belly feathers to help cool them. The precocial young leave the nest soon after hatching, are tended by both parents but feed themselves, and first fly at about 25 days (Audubon; ADW gives 20 to 31 days). Some pairs in warmer parts of the range raise 2 broods a year.
The broken-wing act
If an animal comes near the eggs, a killdeer pretends to be hurt.
It flaps on the ground and leads the animal away. Then it flies off.
A killdeer sitting on its eggs keeps still as an intruder comes closer. If the intruder gets too near, the bird leaves the nest and pretends to be hurt, fluttering along the ground and dragging a wing. The intruder follows the 'injured' bird away from the eggs, and then the killdeer flies off.
Killdeer are noisy. Their loud kill-dee calls can warn other killdeer, and even other kinds of animals, that something is nearby.
ADW describes the distraction display: an incubating adult lies still as an intruder approaches, then leaves the nest and performs an 'injured bird' routine, hobbling away with dragging wings, and flies off once the intruder has been drawn far enough away. Audubon calls this the 'broken-wing' act.
Killdeer are usually alone or in pairs, occasionally gathering in loose flocks outside the breeding season, and their calls often act as an alarm for other individuals, including other species (ADW). Breeding home ranges in two studies averaged 0.23 to 0.68 hectares (ADW). The IUCN codes the species as a full migrant and congregatory.
Did you know?
Some killdeer lay their eggs on flat gravel roofs.
Killdeer sometimes nest on flat gravel roofs, parking lots and gravel roads.
Nest sites include farm fields, road shoulders, parking lots and flat graveled rooftops (ADW; Audubon).
Listen to a killdeer
Listen to the sound at the start of this page.
These are real killdeer calling in Yellowstone National Park.
At the start of this page you can play a real recording of killdeer calling. Peter Comley made it for the US National Park Service near Anemone Geyser in Yellowstone National Park.
Listen for the loud calls that gave the killdeer its name. Audubon describes the killdeer as calling its name as it flies over farmland and other open country.
The recording on this page is a killdeer chorus made near Anemone Geyser on Geyser Hill in Yellowstone's Upper Geyser Basin (NPS/Peter Comley, Yellowstone sound library, public domain; dated 22 March 2015 on Wikimedia Commons). ADW calls the killdeer's call extremely loud and piercing, and says the common name imitates it.
Did you know?
The killdeer's name comes from its call.
The killdeer's loud call sounds like its name: kill-dee.
The common name imitates the loud, piercing 'kill-dee(r)' call (ADW).
Common, but fewer than before
There are still lots of killdeer.
But there are fewer than there used to be, and scientists want to find out why.
The killdeer is listed as near threatened. There are still about 2.3 million adult killdeer (a 2023 estimate), but their numbers are estimated to have fallen by more than a fifth over three generations (about 13 years), and scientists do not yet know why.
Many killdeer nest in farm fields, and scientists think that could be part of the problem: farm work might destroy nests, and farm chemicals and less food might mean killdeer raise fewer young and fewer birds survive. These possible causes still need to be studied.
BirdLife International assessed Charadrius vociferus as Near Threatened for the IUCN Red List (A2bc+4bc; assessed 12 July 2024, published 2024): a reduction of more than 20% in three generations (generation length 4.24 years) is estimated from data covering most of the range. It remains abundant and widespread, with about 2,300,000 mature individuals (Partners in Flight 2023), and the drivers of the decline are uncertain.
The IUCN names habitat change and human disturbance as potential threats, and says heavy use of farm fields for breeding needs investigating: they may be a sink habitat, with nest loss from farm operations, exposure to harmful chemicals and less food possibly lowering breeding success and survival. Disease may be another factor. Killdeer were hunted in the past but are protected by law (in the United States, by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act), and there is no evidence that hunting is still a significant threat.
IUCN Red List
How is the killdeer doing in the wild?
- Least Concern
- Near Threatened (this animal)
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Near Threatened
Not at risk yet, but it could be soon.
Amazing facts
-
A killdeer can pretend to have a broken wing.
To lead an intruder away from its eggs, a killdeer flutters along the ground as if its wing were broken.
The killdeer's distraction display: the incubating bird hobbles away dragging its wings, then flies once the intruder is far enough from the nest (ADW).
-
Some killdeer lay their eggs on flat gravel roofs.
Killdeer sometimes nest on flat gravel roofs, parking lots and gravel roads.
Nest sites include farm fields, road shoulders, parking lots and flat graveled rooftops (ADW; Audubon).
-
In hot places, killdeer parents give their eggs shade.
In very hot places, killdeer parents shade their eggs at midday and may wet their belly feathers to help cool them.
In very hot climates adults shade the eggs at midday and may soak their belly feathers to help cool them (Audubon).
-
The killdeer's name comes from its call.
The killdeer's loud call sounds like its name: kill-dee.
The common name imitates the loud, piercing 'kill-dee(r)' call (ADW).
Words to know
- plover
- a bird of the family Charadriidae, such as the killdeer and the lapwings
- scrape
- a shallow dip in the ground that a bird uses as a nest
- distraction display
- a show a bird puts on to lead a danger away from its eggs or chicks
- precocial
- able to walk and find food soon after hatching
- brood
- a family of chicks hatched at the same time
- migrate
- to travel to another place for part of the year
Discovery challenge
-
How did the killdeer get its name?
Where does the killdeer's name come from?
What is the origin of the killdeer's common name?
- From its call, which sounds like kill-dee
- From the deer it follows
- From the color of its feathers
Show the answer
From its call, which sounds like kill-dee
Its loud call sounds like kill-dee!
Its loud call sounds like its name: kill-dee.
The name imitates the loud, piercing 'kill-dee(r)' call (ADW; Audubon).
-
What does a killdeer do to keep an animal away from its eggs?
How does a killdeer lead an intruder away from its nest?
Which behavior does a killdeer use to draw intruders away from its nest?
- It pretends to have a broken wing
- It hides the eggs in a tree
- It covers the eggs with water
Show the answer
It pretends to have a broken wing
It flaps on the ground like it is hurt, then flies away.
It flutters along the ground as if hurt, and the intruder follows it away from the eggs.
An 'injured bird' distraction display, after which the adult flies off (ADW).
-
Where does a killdeer lay its eggs?
What kind of nest does a killdeer make?
Which nest type does Audubon describe for the killdeer?
- A shallow scrape on open ground
- A cup of twigs high in a tree
- A hole in a riverbank
Show the answer
A shallow scrape on open ground
In a little dip on the ground.
A shallow scrape in soil or gravel, out in the open.
A shallow scrape in soil or gravel, unlined or lined with pebbles, grass, twigs or debris (Audubon).
-
How many black bands does a grown-up killdeer have on its chest?
How many black chest bands does an adult killdeer have?
How many bold black breast bands does an adult killdeer show?
- Two
- One
- Five
Show the answer
Two
Two black bands.
Two. Fluffy chicks may have only one at first.
Two bold black breast bands, with a white collar (Audubon); downy young may show a single band.
Places where you might see it
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Watch
Country
United States
The United States is a large country in North America made of 50 states, from icy Alaska to the warm islands of Hawaii. It has the Grand Canyon, the Mississippi River and Yellowstone, and about 342 million people live there.
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Watch
Country
Canada
Canada is the second-largest country in the world, stretching across the north of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific and up into the Arctic. It has the Rocky Mountains, thousands of islands and about 42 million people, who speak English, French and many other languages.
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Watch
Country
Mexico
Mexico is a large country in southern North America, between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. It has smoking volcanoes, ancient cities built by the Maya and other peoples, and about 132 million people, many of them in and around Mexico City.
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Canada
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate the parts of North, Central and South America where killdeer live.
- Describe how a killdeer finds food and what it eats.
- Describe a killdeer's nest and how its parents use a broken-wing act to protect it.
- Explain why the killdeer is listed as near threatened, and what scientists think might be happening to nests in farm fields.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- What might help eggs laid on bare, open ground stay safe?
- Why might a bird pretend to be hurt instead of fighting an intruder?
- Killdeer are still common but fewer than before. Why is it useful to notice a decline early?
Try at home or in class
- With a grown-up, walk around a park, school field or parking lot and look and listen for killdeer. If you find one, watch from a distance and never go near a nest.
- Play run-stop-peck: run a few steps, stop and look for a 'bug' (a small paper circle on the floor), then run again, like a feeding killdeer.
Key vocabulary: plover, scrape, distraction display, precocial, brood, migrate
Where these facts come from
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- Charadrius vociferus (BirdLife International, assessed 12 July 2024, published 2024) , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Charadrius vociferus: range, population, ecology and threats text , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Charadrius vociferus: IUCN Red List global assessment record (BirdLife International 2024), IUCN checklist on GBIF , GBIF
- Killdeer (Guide to North American Birds; text by Kenn Kaufman, 1996) , National Audubon Society
- Charadrius vociferus (killdeer), by Hugh Chung , Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan
- Sound Library: Killdeer , Yellowstone National Park, U.S. National Park Service
- File:Killdeer.jpg (Albert Head Lagoon, Metchosin, British Columbia, September 2007, Alan D. Wilson) , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.