Adult: This one is easy to identify! It loudly announcess its name, “Killdeer, Killdeer, Killdeer” and displays two prominent black breast bands. The Killdeer, largest of Florida’s banded plovers, sports orange rump feathers and a white wing stripe.

Immature:  The precocial chicks have a single breast band. A buffy edge on the brown wing and back feathers of the young of the year disappears before the first winter.

Habitat: Killdeer may be found in agricultural environ-ments, suburban areas near dwellings, at airports or in any open grassy, pebbly areas where insects are plentiful. The species is noisy in flight and on the ground, sometimes alarming other birds. Listen for their voices in the blackness before dawn.

Year-round Florida residents, Killdeer populations are increased by winter visitors. Like others of their kind, Killdeer nest on the ground in shallow scrapes. The nests may contain added pebbles, which may serve as camouflage or possibly as heat retainers. The adults guard the nest with a broken-wing display to distract predators.

Text by Mary Jean Rogers, West Volusia Audubon.