Run, pause, bob – run, pause, bob – and down the water’s edge it goes. That’s easy to remember. Also, look for that red circle around the eye and two black breast bands against brown and white feathers, another easy identification. I say if you can remember two things about a critter, you can remember what it is. Killdeers are common around the Salish Sea, usually at the shoreline along beaches and estuaries, but also on fields and marina lawns. In winter their numbers swell as birds east of the Cascades join their foraging, so that’s why I’m writing about it in December. Killdeers! These birds were named for their call, a kill-dee, kill-dee that is often heard before the bird is seen. This is the largest of several plovers on the West Coast and all have the same traits. I think it’s a model just waiting to be painted.

Now the good part: Killdeers have an interesting trait. They are ground-nesters, four to six eggs that are usually just in a scrape of sand or gravel. This is lined with dried vegetation and some white material such as broken shell fragments. They seem to prefer open grassy areas where watchful parents can keep an eye out for predators – or you, walking your favorite beach. Suddenly, there’s a bird ahead dragging a broken wing and making a real racket like it’s in agony with pain. The wing is hanging down, dragging on the ground and an obvious target. Obviously, you follow it! The bird keeps going, taking you far away from the little family tucked away on the nest. If you stop, it stops, walk towards it again and there it goes. It’s a strategy that seems to work for fooling predators as well, so much so that killdeers have two broods a year.

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