PLOVERS, TURNSTONES, AND S UR F-BI RDS : Family Charadriidae 



the eyes to the occiput; there is a broad black stripe entirely around the neck, below 

 the white; the crown, auriculars, back and inner half of the wings are grizzled 

 'vinaceous buff' and dusky; there is a black space in the center of the back and a 

 black band across the wing between the grizzled inner half and the white distal 

 half." (Bent) Si%e: "Length io.oo-ii.i5, wing 6.10-6.75, bill .70-. 90, tarsus 1.40- 

 1.55." (Bailey) Nest: Usually a depression, with only the barest attempt at lining 

 with bits of dry vegetable matter or small pebbles, although sometimes fairly well 

 lined. Eggs: Usually 4, rarely 3 or 5, light buff or cream ground color, heavily 

 marked with brown and black. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Mackenzie, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, 

 Ontario, Quebec, and Maine southward to Gulf States and Mexico. Winters from 

 British Columbia, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Massa- 

 chusetts south into West Indies and Central America. In Oregon: Abundant per- 

 manent resident of every part of State, remaining through winter in small flocks 

 wherever there is open water. Common summer resident of every county. 



SINCE TOWNSEND (1839) first listed the Killdeer from Oregon, every orni- 

 thologist who has worked in the State has reported it. Bendire (1877) 

 recorded it as a breeding species about Camp Harney, and we have since 

 learned that it nests in every part of the State (Plate 38, B). In published 

 records and in our own notes there are many egg dates between April 10 

 and June 12., but it is certain that the first date does not anywhere nearly 

 approach the beginning of the nesting season, as we have on several 

 occasions noted adults followed by newly hatched young between April 

 12. and 2.2.. Most of the records refer to Jackson County, where it is 

 evident incubation begins at least as early as mid-March. The beautifully 

 marked downy young are able to travel soon after breaking the shell and 

 move almost immediately to the nearest water. They are a familiar sight 

 along the small ponds and streams from May to July as they feed about 

 with the adults. Despite their conspicuous gray and white pattern, the 

 youngsters blend beautifully with the landscape and are almost invisible 

 so long as they remain motionless. 



In summer, the Killdeers gather into flocks, sometimes of several thou- 

 sand, and feed over the wetter meadows. At Malheur Lake, on August 

 19, 1932., Gabrielson watched for some time a flock that he estimated 

 contained two to three thousand birds flying about the meadows and 

 occasionally alighting for a time. The flight is direct, rapid, and some- 

 what ternlike in its gracefulness, the flocks being masters of the aerial 

 evolution so commonly performed by members of the sandpiper family. 



In winter the birds remain in small companies that feed about the 

 ponds or along the shores of open streams. We have definite winter 

 records for Crook, Grant, Baker, Umatilla, Wallowa, Malheur, and 

 Klamath Counties in eastern Oregon, a list that could doubtless be ex- 

 tended by a little intensive field work. In western Oregon, the Killdeers 

 winter commonly in every county and sometimes during heavy rains 

 appear in numbers on large lawns, such as the campus of Oregon State 

 College at Corvallis. 



