killdeer

American  

[kil-deer] / ˈkɪlˌdɪər /

noun

1. an American plover, Charadrius vociferus, having two black bands around the upper breast.

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killdeer British  

/ ˈkɪlˌdɪə /

noun

1. a large brown-and-white North American plover, Charadrius vociferus, with two black breast bands and a noisy cry

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Etymology

Origin of killdeer

An Americanism dating back to 1725–35; imitative

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

killdeer

During a birdwatching stroll last spring, John Bates spotted a newly hatched killdeer chick.

From Washington Post ● May 17, 2022

This connection of nature to architecture, of birds to buildings, forged in earnest once Wittman asked whether the Troths had “a few pictures” of the killdeer, Pat says.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 3, 2019

For Henderson, that experience was finding a killdeer nest in a cornfield, and then returning to see the newly hatched puffballs.

From Washington Times ● May 2, 2015

There were plenty of species at street level as well: blue jays, cardinals, American crows, Eastern phoebes, killdeer, loggerhead shrike, kestrel falcons, bronzed cowbirds and, rarest of all, an open-ground woodpecker.

From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2012

But after a while the birds got used to the digging, resettled upon their freckled eggs, and hatched out ten thousand little killdeer that scurried around Cleofes Apodaca’s pit peeping hysterically.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

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