How to Identify aKilldeer

Charadrius vociferus · 7.9–11 in (20–28 cm)

Male vs. female

Brown above, white below, with two crisp black bands across the chest, a red eye-ring and a rusty rump. Sexes look alike.

Identical to the male in the field.

Male photo: Charles Homler d/b/a FocusOnWildlife / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Female photo: Audrey / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0

Quick ID

A slender brown-and-white shorebird with two black chest bands, common on gravel lots and lawns far from any shore.

Semipalmated Plover — Much smaller with only one chest band and a stubby bill.

American Robin — Has a plain orange breast with no black bands and hops rather than runs.

A loud, insistent "kill-deer, kill-deer" and rising "dee-dee-dee", given day and night and often overhead.

Lures predators from the nest with a broken-wing display, dragging one wing and calling piteously until the intruder has followed it far enough away.

Gravel lots, athletic fields, pastures, driveways, mudflats and riverbanks across North America.

Depending on where in North America you are, it is present all year and a summer visitor that arrives to breed.

Insects, earthworms, snails and other invertebrates picked from open ground.

It nests on bare gravel — including parking lots and flat roofs — and defends the eggs by feigning a broken wing to lead intruders away.

See more. Appreciate more.

Point your camera at any bird and Aviarist identifies it in seconds — then logs it to your life list.