Bird Calls Radio's Bird of the Day for Tuesday, July 26

The killdeer is today’s Bird Calls Bird of the Day.

Killdeer show up in the darndest places sometimes. When I was in high school (a year or two ago) I played on the baseball team. One day I was playing catch and a killdeer was making an awful racket. I told my catching partner that I bet there were eggs nearby. He doubted me. After a quick inspection I found the eggs laying on the ground right in the middle of where we were playing catch. We moved from our spot, but it’s not likely that nest ever succeeded. It was in the middle of a busy playing field.

I’ve also found killdeer nests in cemeteries and parking lots. Adults employ a broken wing technique when a predator gets too close to its nest. The adult will leave the nest, walk a fair distance away and carry on and pretend it has a broken wing to attract the attention of a nearby predator. When the predator goes to pounces, of course the healthy adult bird flies away, having diverted the predator away from the nest.

Killdeer are also named for their call, a high pitches “kill-deer, kill-deer, kill-deer.” It’s a familiar sound in spring and summer.

Be sure to check out Bird Calls every Saturday from 3 to 4 p.m. on WSTC/WNLK AM1400/1350 (in S. CT and nearby NY) or www.wstcwnlk.com from anywhere in the world (where there’s Internet access, that is.) Thanks for checking in.