On 28 May 2003, while at the eastern end of White Beach, I noticed two killdeer

(Charadrius vociferus) near the berm. One of them was walking over a large patch
(about fifty feet by fifty feet) of round, closely spaced stones (Brits call this shingle, so
too shall I). All these stones are at least the size of hen’s eggs, yet the bird seemed to
float along a level line, with little or no up-and-down motion. It couldn't have been
walking between the stones; they touch. Even if it could walk between stones, it
would have to follow a meandering course, and this was not happening. So, the bird
must have been using its legs like load levelers. What survival value might this have?
Well, minimizing any vertical component in its walk could improve its ability to track
things visually. Potential threats, especially those coming from the air, are difficult to
spot and track if your head is bobbing. (I’ve found no mention of this “load leveling”
walk in printed guides or Internet sites.)
This species is known as the noisy plover. The second part of their Latin name,
 vociferus, means to
scream. Unless disturbed,
these killdeer at White
Beach really aren't all that
vocal, and when they do
vocalize, I’d certainly not
call it screaming. [To hear
killdeer vocalizations, copy
this URL into your
browser.
http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs
.gov/id/framlst/Button/b273
0.html.]
White Beach & Crow Island, Manchester-by-the-Sea There appear to be only
two killdeer in the entire
area of White Beach and
Black Beach. The species is generally thought to mate for life, so these may be mates
from previous breeding seasons.

W hite Beach shingle, looking east (killdeer is a third

of the way in, about on center).

Stressed Killdeer Lowers W ings & Fans Tail
W hite Beach shingle, looking west.
On 29 May 2003 I returned to the shingle
and sat nearby, hoping to see a killdeer
do the "load leveler" walk. After ten
minutes or so, I heard a killdeer call and
realized that one had been among the
stones all the while. Once I had spotted
it (no easy task), I went to the car for
my digital camera. When I returned, I
couldn’t find the killdeer. I ventured
onto the shingle, the bird sounded what
seemed a warning cry, and I made it
out among the stones. When I
squatted, the bird seemed less upset, so
I got down on my hands and knees and
moved slowly (and painfully) toward it.
With each movement I made toward
the bird, it gave an increasingly
agonized call, as if changing from threat
mode to distress mode. When I
continued to close, it fanned its
beautiful tail feathers and lowered its
wings, as if to hide what lay beneath it.
After I had taken my pictures, I backed
off. When I was about ten feet away,
the bird stood up but continued to hold
its ground. I was convinced that the
killdeer must have been sitting on a
nest -- why else would it display such
courage? -- but when it stood, I saw only
stones.

The other killdeer appeared at the eastern edge of the shingle and went through a
pretense at injury, at times even rolling onto its back. Then it moved onto the sand
and assumed brooding posture in a shallow depression. (It stayed too far away for me
to record this performance with my digital camera, which has a simple lens.) I
doubted the nest would be out on open sand, but I ventured closer, which is precisely
what the bird wanted. Once I was off the shingle, it rose and ran down toward the
water. The first bird followed. I decided to disturb them no more, and returned to my
car to watch them through binoculars. They returned to the shingle, but one of them
spotted me watching, and approached me in brief bursts of motion. It came all the
way to the top of the berm, just a few feet from my car window, looked me over for a
time, then called to its mate and they both flew over my car toward the salt marsh.
When they take wing, I'm always surprised by their wingspan, which is considerable
for their body size.
Within a few minutes they returned to the shingle, one bird, as always, taking up
position at the same location near the center. After a time, it began moving about,
pecking at bits of seaweed between stones, seeming to scoop out a depression with
backward kicks and settling down into it in brooding posture, then moving off again. It
seemed to me that they had not yet decided on a nest location, and were simply trying
to draw me away from the shingle as a whole. A neighbor told me that the killdeer
had probably returned only very recently to White Beach, though I believe I had been
hearing killdeer calls for the past two weeks.

On 30 May 2003 I saw the killdeer mating. I concluded from this that they had not
begun nesting. (Given the requisite balancing act, coitus lasted some time, up to a
minute). The bird doing the mounting returned to the center of the shingle. I
presumed from this that the male was guarding the entire shingle as a prospective
nesting site, while the female ranged all over the area, presumably feeding.

With so many people, crows and gulls nearby, the shingle would seem a poor choice
of nesting sites, but killdeer typically nest in the open, relying on camouflage and
diversion (feigned injury, false nesting, etc.) to protect the nest. I’ve read that killdeer
even nest in the gravel beds between railroad tracks, the adults simply getting out of
the way when a train approaches. Imagine how terrified the young must be every
time a train roars over them. By the time they fledge, they must have nerves of steel.

Shingle would offer one advantage in that people are disinclined to walk on stones
large enough to turn an ankle. Another advantage is that stones absorb and hold the
sun’s heat long after sunset. Who knows, this pair of killdeer may have been nesting
successfully here for years.

(31 May 2003) One killdeer seems to be

alone on the shingle most of the time. The
other bird is presumably away, feeding.
When a killdeer remains motionless, it’s
nearly impossible to make it out among the
rocks, but the birds are forever bobbing their
heads and giving away their position.
What’s the purpose of this behavior? What
survival value can it have? Head-bobbing is
another thing I can’t find in any of the
sources available to me.

(1 June 2003) In a hard rain, I stopped by

the shingle on my way to lunch, but saw no The Other Killdeer Shows Up
killdeer. I got out of the car and ventured to
the edge of the stones. This usually elicits a challenge, but apparently neither bird was
there. When I returned from lunch, there was a killdeer huddled among the stones in
the downpour. Were it not for the head-bobbing, I never would have spotted the bird.
Now and then, it also shook water from its head.

(2 June 2003) They are nesting! At 8AM I saw the changing of the guard and the
settling into brooding posture, and knew they had started nesting. I understand that
both sexes incubate. I see no sign of brood patches on either bird. The killdeer
relieved from nest duty remained on the
shingle, pecking here and there at
seaweed or at insects in the seaweed.
So graceful are their movements. After
several minutes, it flew over my car
toward the salt marsh, where I imagine
they find most of their food.

Later, with both birds away from the

nest because of crows, I located the
nest. It contains three eggs, olive gray
with black speckling reminiscent of the
seaweed in the shingle. Compared to
the size of the birds, the eggs are large,
about 1.3 to 1.5 inches long. I don’t see
One Killdeer Alone on Shingle Most of Time
how crows and gulls can overlook these
for long.

When I returned from lunch to check the killdeer, the eastern crows were waiting on
the berm. One was on the shingle, watching the killdeer, who were darting about and
vocalizing, trying to distract the crow from the nest. The crow started across the
stones. I thought for sure it had spotted the nest, so I went down the road to the
territorial boundary and lured the crows away with peanuts.

Whenever a crow flies over, the

brooding killdeer leaves the nest and
moves four to five feet away, always
toward my car, as if hoping that a
human presence will keep the crows
away. The killdeer scarcely react when
gulls fly over, but they are extremely
wary of crows, so agitated by them in
fact that they leave the eggs
unattended for lengthy periods, so I
decided to stop feeding the eastern
crows anywhere near the shingle.

Can You See the Nest?

I have heard no two-note killdeer calls, only one-note deeeer or keeeeen, and just
now a long multiple-note call from the brooding bird. This one has been on the nest
for nearly two hours. By no means is it motionless while on the nest; it grooms itself,
head-bobs a lot, and looks around at various birds -- especially crows. It seems to
know when I watch it through my
binoculars from inside the car. It
freezes.

(3 June 2003) Now I understand how

killdeer can raise their young in nests on
open ground. At 4:15 PM the bird on the
eggs left the nest when crows flew over
and landed on the beach. I broke out
my camera and went down on the
shingle to get a shot of the nest. I knew
about where it should be – I had seen it
once before -- but even on my hands
and knees I could not find that nest. I
Killdeer Eggs Close-up began to wonder whether it had been
here all along, even before I began
observing the killdeer. It was doubtless here that day I took the close-up photographs
of the killdeer. Why else would the bird have shown such courage? And when the
bird stood, it was small wonder I saw nothing but stones. I felt pressed for time. The
killdeer was going through its injured act, and I didn’t want the eggs to cool, so I gave
up. At 4:45 PM the mate returned, but instead of changing the guard, both birds left
the nest to mate at the perimeter of the shingle, as before. This time I had taken a line
of sight on certain distinctive stones while the bird was on the nest, and was able to
find it right away. I got several nice digital photographs of the eggs.

This mating behavior with eggs already in the nest is interesting. Do the birds not
connect coitus with reproduction, as I suspect is true for most animals? If they can
make the connection, are they mating for the pleasure of it? Or might they be trying
for an insurance clutch, in case they lose the eggs now in the nest?

Over the past two weeks or so, I’ve been stopping by the shingle just long enough to
confirm that the killdeer are still incubating. Other than that, I’ve kept my distance.

(14 June 2003) Is another pair of terns nesting on a shingle near the Private Path across
from Black Beach? My attention was drawn to them while I was feeding the eastern
crows. The killdeer sounded stressed -- no doubt because five crows were so close. I
went over there to have a look. The killdeer seemed to be defending the shingle. They
tried luring me away with feigned injuries. I looked all over, but could find no nest.
Next day I saw no sign of them there. Could this have been the White Beach pair?
Why would both be off the nest and half a mile away, sounding as stressed as they do
when people approach their nest? Might they be incubating eggs on two nests? I
doubt this is possible. How could either bird find time to eat? Anyway, I never again
saw them on that shingle.

(15 June 2003) My children took me out for Fathers Day and my birthday. When we
got back from the restaurant, I took them to see the crows and killdeer. With four in
our group, the western crows were very
wary. From the west end of White
Beach I noticed a boy crossing the
shingle, walking near the killdeer nest.
We drove over there. The boy and his
family were getting ready to leave. They
were well aware of the killdeer, but
thought the bird on the nest was close to
death because it had been feigning
injury so dramatically. I explained the
bird’s behavior. The family left. I don’t
think they believed me. Just then, my
children got to see the changing of the
The Empty Nest guard. After this ceremony had been
carried out, the off-duty bird tried to
draw us away from the shingle with feigned injury and false nesting behavior. I
suggested we go along with it, and after the bird had drawn us some fifty feet away, it
flew off. My children shared my awe over the beauty of killdeer movements over
stones. They were as engrossed as I by the entire scenario. I found it very rewarding
to see them show such appreciation for nature.

(16 June 2003) No sign of the killdeer, and I couldn't find the nest, though it may be
there. The situation looks grim. I went over to the shingle by the Private Path,
thinking the birds might have made a nest over there, but saw no sign of killdeer.

(17 June 2003) Still no sign of the killdeer. I examined the shingle carefully, crawling
on my hands and knees, but found no trace of eggs. I even used a printout of my
photograph to locate the nest site. It is definitely empty. Nary a shell fragment. I
found the absence of fragments puzzling. I’d expect crows or gulls to crush the eggs
and eat the embryos on the spot. A snake would swallow eggs whole, but I should
think the killdeer, with their long sharply pointed beaks, could fight off most of the
snake species found in our area. I suppose any number of predators might carry off
the eggs intact -- crows with nestlings to feed, for example.

How sad. I was so looking forward to seeing the babies. I wonder whether this pair
will nest on the same shingle next year. (They did not, nor have they returned since.)
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