Charadrius vociferus
Order Charadriiformes
Family Charadriidae
Subfamily Charadriinae
Adult.— Head and back brown; ring entirely around neck white, edged on the hind neck with black; forehead, stripe over eye, throat, and lower parts white; two black bands across breast, the lower one narrow; rump and base of tail cinnamon.
Nest, on ground.
Eggs, buffy-white, with chocolate markings, chiefly at the larger end.
The Killdeer is a rare summer resident in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and a rare spring and fall migrant along the coast. It occasionally appears in western Massachusetts, and on Long Island has been recorded in every month but January. In the breeding season it is noisy and restless, continually uttering the complaining kill-dee, from which it gets its name, and occasionally a rolling whistle a little like that of the Upland Plover. Like most of the plovers, it bobs constantly. It may be readily distinguished from the smaller Ring-necks [Semipalmated Plover] by the two bands of black and by the cinnamon rump and base of tail, which are conspicuous in flight.
The Killdeer’s wings are long and narrow, and its flight graceful and vigorous, suggesting somewhat that of the Sparrow-Hawk [Kestrel].
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)