Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: Spring Brings New Bird Songs
House Finch perched on branch, looking over its shoulder showing red-colored head and throat
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • Daily Shows
    • Threatened
    • Grouse
    • BirdNote Presents
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
    • Success Stories
  • About
    • The BirdNote Story
    • The Team
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • Contact Us
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

Partial Migration - Killdeer Play Leap Frog

Where do Killdeer go in winter?
Subscribe to the Podcast
Download
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
Killdeer in flight
© Gary Yankech

The cries of a Killdeer are familiar across most of the US during spring and summer. But where do they go in winter? Killdeer that breed in the southern half of the US and along the Pacific Coast are year-round residents. But those that breed in the northern US and Canada, where winter conditions are more severe, migrate south to Mexico and Central America. Because the northern Killdeer fly south — right over the region where other Killdeer reside year-round — they are known as leap-frog migrants. 

Support for BirdNote comes from the Cornell Lab’s Bird Academy, with online courses that share the wonder and joy of birds. More at AllAboutBirds.org.

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®  

Partial Migration: Killdeer Play Leap-frog

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

[Killdeer contact call, http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/191144]

The rhythmic cries of a Killdeer are familiar across most of the country in spring and summer. It’s our most often seen plover, the one with the double dark breast-bands. [Killdeer call, http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/191144]

But what do Killdeer do in the winter? Do they migrate south or stick around through the cold months? The answer is — they do both.

Killdeer that breed in the southern half of the US and along the Pacific Coast, where winters are moderate, are year-round residents. But the ones that breed in the northern US and Canada, where winter conditions are more severe, migrate south to Mexico and Central America. [Killdeer alarm call, http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/118665, 0.04-.07]

Killdeer are a clearcut example of what scientists call a partial migrant: part of the species population migrates; part stays put. Birds such as swifts, where they all migrate, are known as complete migrants. 

And because the northern Killdeer fly south right over the region where other Killdeer reside year round, they are also known as leap-frog migrants. In spring, they will once again leap across the resident Killdeer, en route to northern zones. [Killdeer contact call, http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/191144, 0.08-.09]

For BirdNote I’m Mary McCann. 

Support for BirdNote comes from the Cornell Lab’s Bird Academy, with online courses that share the wonder and joy of birds. More at AllAboutBirds.org.

###

Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Kildeer recorded by W L Hershberger
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Dominic Black
© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org    November 2017/2020   Narrator: Mary McCann 

ID#         KILL-02-2015-11-25KILL-02    

Useful links: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Killdeer/lifehistory

http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/migration.htm#diff

http://www.birdwords.co.uk/press/examples-of-copy-by-dominic-couzen/par…

Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Mary McCann
Narrator
Support More Shows Like This
Tagsmigration

Related Resources

Killdeer – More at Audubon’s Guide to North American Birds

More About These Birds

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)

Charadrius vociferus

Sights & Sounds

Related Field Notes

May 8, 2020

Conserving Cerulean Warbler Habitat

By Rainforest Alliance
Did you know that the United States shares many migratory songbird species with our ne
October 11, 2013

Greater Yellowlegs gets a fish

By Gregg Thompson
Gregg Thompson spotted this Greater Yellowlegs near the Skagit Wildlife Area in western Washingto

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • Daily Shows
  • Field Notes
  • BirdNote Presents
  • Sights & Sounds
  • About BirdNote
  • Contact BirdNote
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy