Characteristics
 The killdeer has brown upper feathers and white undersides. It has a a brown head with a black band between its eyes, white "eyebrows" and black bands around its upper chest. It has a sharp, black bill; long legs and a long tail. Males and females look the same.
Range
 The killdeer breeds from Alaska to Newfoundland south. It winters north to British Columbia, Utah, the Ohio Valley and Massachusetts. It also can be found in Central and South America.
Habitat
 The killdeer can be found in open grasslands, wetlands, fields, croplands and pastures, and short-grass prairies. They are often found on
sandbars, mudflats and pastures.
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Diet
Insects make up the majority of the killdeer's diet, but they will also eat berries and crustaceans.
Life Cycle
 Male killdeers claim nesting territory before selecting a mate. To attract a mate, the male will stand in his territory and make a two-note call for hours at a time. The male may also scrape at the ground and fly over his territory. Once killdeers have mated, the pair will scrape out a nesting site. The female killdeer lays an average of four eggs. Both the male and the female incubate the eggs. It takes about 24-28 days for the eggs to hatch.
The chicks are
precocial, that means they can move around and feed themselves shortly after birth. Once the chicks' down dries, the parents will lead them to a feeding area.
The chicks stay with their parents until they fledge a month after birth. The killdeer may have two broods a year.
Behavior
The killdeer sometimes distracts predators from its nest by pretending to be injured. It drags itself along the ground, sometimes on one foot, dragging its wings like they are broken. When the predator turns it attention to the killdeer and away from the nest, the adult killdeer flies away.
Killdeer do not gather in flocks. They are solitary or in male and female pairs.
Image Credits: Clipart.com unless otherwise noted
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