HomeBack The Howland Picture Pages: Killdeer

Page by Royce
Last update: $Date: 2004/03/05 01:11:03 $ (UTC)

The Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) is a colorful, Plover type of shorebird found ubiquitously near water in Alberta (although they may nest a ways away from water), and through-out most of North America. The northern most population is migratory but the rest (all the way to the northern coast of South America) reside in their areas year-round.

When sighted, a Killdeer likely is doing one of two things -- dashing around looking for food, or flying while making its characteristics killdeer call. (This bird isn't called vociferus for nothing!) A well-known but interesting snippet of information is that an adult Killdeer will attempt to distract predators from the nest or young by feigning a broken wing, limping away in some other direction while squawking.

Resources where you can find out more:

This Killdeer was one of three spotted at Bow Valley Provincial Park on July 26, 2003. We were walking the Many Springs Trail, and this was one of the few water birds out that day. Perhaps while the others were off in the shade somewhere, this Killdeer and its two friends stayed back to do their calisthenics.

This photo was taken with a digiscoping setup.

EXIF 2.2 photo info:

 

  • 320 x 284 true color
  • Exposure time: 1/133.50
  • F-stop: 4.5
  • ISO speed: 100
  • Focal length: 16.7000 (plus Pentax PF-80EDA scope & William Optics DCL-28 eyepiece)
  • Exposure mode: Auto
  • White balance: Auto
  • Exposure bias: 0.0000
  • Metering mode: Center Weighted
  • Exposure program: Aperture priority
  • Gain control: None
  • Contrast: Normal
  • Saturation: High
  • Sharpness: Hard
  • Camera make: NIKON
  • Camera model: E4500

Here is a Killdeer being vociferus on June 16, 2003. This bird was in the rock garden not 20 feet from the front door of a client office building in Englewood, Colorado, right around closing time when a couple of hundred people would be exiting the building. Upon encountering it calling from among the rocks, I grabbed my camera from the car and snapped a few frames.

EXIF 2.2 photo info:

 

  • 320 x 411 true color
  • Exposure time: 1/223.80
  • F-stop: 4.7
  • ISO speed: 100
  • Focal length: 71.2000 (with 1.5X teleconverter)
  • Exposure mode: Auto
  • White balance: Auto
  • Exposure bias: 0.0000
  • Metering mode: Center Weighted
  • Exposure program: Normal
  • Gain control: None
  • Contrast: Normal
  • Saturation: High
  • Sharpness: Hard
  • Camera make: NIKON
  • Camera model: E5700

Here is the same Killdeer pictured in the preceding shot. At this point it had flown across the parking lot, and was poking around along the grassy verge.

EXIF 2.2 photo info:

 

  • 320 x 311 true color
  • Exposure time: 1/228.40
  • F-stop: 4.7
  • ISO speed: 100
  • Focal length: 71.2000 (with 1.5X teleconverter)
  • Exposure mode: Auto
  • White balance: Auto
  • Exposure bias: 0.0000
  • Metering mode: Center Weighted
  • Exposure program: Normal
  • Gain control: None
  • Contrast: Normal
  • Saturation: High
  • Sharpness: Hard
  • Camera make: NIKON
  • Camera model: E5700

HomeBack

Copyright Notice

Unless stated otherwise, all photos and other content on these pages is copyright © 2002 - 2004 by Royce Howland.

Please don't steal anything for your own purposes, in particular if you have a plan for making fabulous stacks of cash in so doing. If you would like to use a photo or other content you find here, or just want to contact us about something, please send email to royce@3ge.com.