Neighborhood Bird Project Report Species Highlight #3: Killdeer

Killdeer | Paul Kusmin | Audubon Photography Awards 

This article is based on our report Fewer and Fewer, which pulls from findings of the Neighborhood Bird Project. 

Though technically a shorebird, Killdeer frequent heavily human-modified areas, such as lawns, gravel driveways, parking lots, and even upland areas, far from water. While they typically place their ground-based nests, called scrapes, on sandy or gravelly substrates near water bodies, the abundance of small ponds and wetlands within the urban areas of Seattle can mean that they can also nest in open areas very close to humans. Some killdeer couples may choose a spot in the middle of an elementary school playfield, or in a parking lot median, or by the side of busy highway.  

Perhaps they aren’t exceptionally picky about their nest sides due to their special skill of deception. When killdeer parents sense a predator near their nest site, they will perform their “broken-wing display” to distract predators and lure them away from their nest and chicks. They will use this tactic to distract common predators like coyotes and raccoons, but will also display if a human gets to close as well.

Despite this very clever tactic, the Neighborhood Bird Project report, which analyzed 20 years of bird count data collected by community scientists at eight different urban parks across the city of Seattle, found that killdeer have declined by between 80%-99% across count areas.  

The reason for this is a mystery. Once abundant at Lake Forest Park, the site and its habitat did not undergo obvious changes during the study period. One participant suggested changes in food availability may be a factor. Killdeer are invertivores, feeding on worms, insects, and mollusks; declines in these prey could help explain their disappearance. Alternatively, the declines may reflect random chance. Birders still occasionally record large numbers of Killdeer there. The once-monthly, five-minute point count NBP protocol at this small site may be particularly sensitive to chance variation in detection. 

As at Lake Forest Park, Killdeer counts also declined sharply at Magnuson Park. Unlike the Lake Forest Park site, Magnuson Park is one of the most intensively sampled sites in the project, making sampling variation an unlikely explanation. These results suggest a real decline, which could be related to Phase two of the wetland restoration project, which increased willow and shrub cover along the lake shore and reduced shoreline habitat for Killdeer and other shorebirds. 

Urban bird lovers can help Seattle’s most visible shorebird with small, easy-to-achieve actions.   

Learn to recognize nests and behaviors of nesting parents: Have you noticed killdeer nearby? Learning their distinct “kill-deer kill-deer” call can help. If you do notice that killdeer have chosen to nest in an area with human activity, mark the area with cones or let the landowner know what is happening so they can take appropriate steps to keep humans far away from the nest. 

Keep dogs on leash: Cones or caution tape won’t do much to deter dogs. Making sure that they are on leash when out in public, especially near wetland habitats, can prevent accidental disturbance and possible destruction of killdeer nests.