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OUR KILLDEER NEST HAS HATCHED!
By Janet Thomas
BEHAVIOR AND NEST DEFENCE
Nest & EGGS
CHICKS AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT
DIET, CALL AND LIFESPAN
Killdeer are often spotted in pairs because they are typically monogamous during the breeding season and share duties defending their ground-based nests. If a person or predator gets too close, an adult may slip off the nest and perform a dramatic “broken-wing” display—limping and calling to lure the threat away—sometimes for 15–20 minutes before circling back when it’s safe.
Killdeer nests are simple: a shallow scrape on the ground, often on a slight rise and about 3–5 inches across. Pairs typically lay 4–6 eggs. The eggs are buff-colored and heavily marked with blackish-brown speckles, providing excellent camouflage against gravel or bare ground. Eggs usually hatch in about 22–28 days because incubation does not begin until the final egg is laid.
Chicks are precocial, meaning they can move and feed shortly after hatching. They are born with eyes open and a full coat of buffy down, and they can walk within minutes of drying. To reduce the chance of attracting predators, parents remove broken eggshells from the nesting area after hatching. Unlike many other baby birds, killdeer chicks forage for their own food (such as small insects) right away, and they typically take their first flight around day 25.
Despite their shoreline reputation, killdeer mostly forage on dry land—running in short bursts to snag insects and other small prey such as beetles, grasshoppers, snails, and crayfish. Their name comes from their sharp “kill-deer” call. The oldest recorded killdeer lived 10 years and 11 months.
A ground nest was nearby—thanks for helping us give it a little space.
Because killdeer nest on the ground and often forage near people, they are especially vulnerable to vehicle strikes and pesticides.
The killdeer pictured was recently nesting on 4 eggs in the coquina outside the back of the Accounting trailer, just off the concrete sidewalk and parking area. On May 1st the eggs hatched! All signs of the nest are gone. It appears from sightings of the Killdeer babies playing on the putting green near the GH Clubhouse and down by the pond that the chicks were safely on their way after hatching. CONGRATS TO MAMA KILLDEER!
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