#brokenwingdistractiondisplay

[railwayhistorical]

Killdeer

This is an intriguing bird for you: the killdeer. It's a robin-sized plover that lives away from the shore. I believe I was at a tennis court in Manassas, Virginia, when I took these pictures.

And here's another instance of distinctive behavior (final image): the killdeer will feign injury—the so-called broken-wing distraction display—to lure predators away from the nest or young. The bird is on the nest in first image; see four eggs in the second image.

Three images by Richard Koenig: taken late 1980s or early 1990s.