One on my birding stops this morning provided nice looks at a pair of Killdeer. They were mating or called the a cloacal kiss and finding a few things to eat too. I have one photo of the two birds mating. It was a nice morning with some filtered sun, low winds and mild temps around 35 degrees. Images were taken on March 8, 2023.
The Killdeer…
Mating…
Walking around in the grass finding a few things to eat…
One of my birding stops in Milwaukee County gave nice looks at a pair of Killdeer. They preened, rested and found things to eat while I was present watching from a distance. These birds poked along in gravelly areas sometimes with some grass mixed in to picking things up to eat. They eat so fast it is hard to see most of the time of what they are eating. I noticed worms were a favorite and some kind of larva maybe were available today. It was a gloomy day, low winds and temps around 40 degrees. Images were taken on March 27, 2020.
A Killdeer preening…
Preening, straightening out those feathers…
Every last one of them…
Just looking pretty…
More preening…
Shaking off…
Grooming…
Something in the bill…
More in the bill…
A worm for something to eat, yummy!
Something else to eat…
Doing some birding along the lakefront in Milwaukee this morning I came across my FOY Killdeer. Always nice to see these as it seems like winter is behind us. Usually I hear the distinct call from this species before I seeing it, today I saw the bird first. This bird stayed in one small area and did some calling which is typical. A beautiful morning out with temps starting at about 32F, mostly sunny skies with low winds. Images were taken on March 4, 2018.
Binomial name: Charadrius vociferus
Category: Lapwings and Plovers
Size: 10.5” long, 24” wing span
Weight: 3.3 oz
Calling
The closeup…
I came across some Killdeer today drinking water out of a half frozen puddle in Milwaukee County. Temperatures remained below freezing all day but the Killdeer still found some open water. Watching them in a short grass field they also appeared to find food today, a good thing! A cold and windy day today with some sun, the high for the day was 26 degrees. Images were taken on March 10, 2017.
Doing some birding in Waukesha County today I came across 3 Killdeer. They appeared to be finding something to eat in the short grasses. They also did some calling and that is what got my attention to start with. Their visit was short lived after one spent a couple minutes at some water, they left the area and I did not see them around after that. Must be just be moving on through. Images were taken on February 22, 2017.
On the move!
Binomial name: Charadrius vociferus
Category: Lapwings and Plovers
Size: 10.5” long, 24” wing span
Weight: 3.3 oz
I birded the Milwaukee lakefront late morning and it was pretty quiet. The highlight was my FOY Killdeer at the Lake Express. There were 2 present late morning. This is a typical place to find them in spring. The open water had some ducks in some places but they were still the common species that have been recently reported. 1-White-winged Scoter was far out at the lighthouse. I stopped at Bradford Beach, it had a few of the Scaups and Ring-billed Gulls. What surprised me was the ~8 foot wall of ice that went the length of the beach that was there last week was just about gone from the recent warmup and wave action. It is ready for shorebirds, an algae mat would be a plus. Images were taken on March 17, 2015.
Binomial name: Charadrius vociferus
Category: Lapwings and Plovers
Size: 10.5” long, 24” wing span
Weight: 3.3 oz
For a few moments this one appeared to be working on a scrap for a possible nest site?
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Killdeer young at Lake Express in Milwaukee Wisconsin on May 1, 2012
Partial display of the “broken wing distraction” to keep the unwanted away from the nest or nest area.
