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Killdeer are plovers with brownish-tan above, white below, two black neck bands, and a red eye ring. Their voice is an excited "kill-deer." Killdeer are rarely seen at the shore and instead inhabit open ground with sparse or no vegetation including lawns, driveways, and parking lots, as well as fields and mudflats. They walk along the ground or run a few steps, stop to look around, and then run again. Killdeer feed primarily on invertebrates such as earthworms, snails, and aquatic insect larvae. Killdeer nests are simple scrapes in the bare ground and their famous broken-wing act leads predators away from the nest. Killdeer are common year-round residents across the southern U.S., up the Pacific coast, and across Mexico from the border southward to central Mexico. A migrant population breeds across the northern U.S. and southern Canada and migrates to southern Mexico and Central America for the winter. At Four Seasons, Killdeer are seen at The Summit and Courts and on various lawns and paved areas. Club member Julie Shuttleworth observed a Killdeer nest, with eggs, at The Courts in the decorative bark on the slope down to the parking lot. ~ Steve Edelman Birding CLUB We welcome beginning and experienced birders to start or hone bird identification skills. Our main activity is a monthly bird walk along Four Seasons' nature trails, which follow native riparian woodlands. We keep a list of all species observed at Four Seasons and take seasonal field trips to nearby birding hot spots. We observed a modest 18 species during our Oct. 12 bird walk, highlighted by great looks at a Black-throated Gray Warbler. This was the only pass-through migrant seen at Four Seasons this fall. During this walk we found a recently deceased Great Horned Owl, which Tom Paulek collected and submitted to the Wildlife Investigations Laboratory of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife. They determined the bird was an adult male in good nutritional condition with evidence of unexplained bleeding and are conducting additional testing on the cause of death. On Oct. 19, John Hansen photographed a Killdeer at The Summit (our Bird of the Month). Our Nov. 2 bird walk produced an impressive 25 species. Highlights included a bird walk-first Great Blue Heron flyover and a Red-shouldered Hawk trying to evade a murder of harassing crows. We meet on the first Saturday of the month at 8 am at the Potrero Creek (Trail A) trailhead at The Lodge parking lot. Email steve.h.edelman@ gmail.com for current schedule and information. ~ Steve Edelman FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | DECEMBER 2019 41 Bird of the Month Above: The Four Seasons Birding Club on Trail B on Nov. 2, from the point of view of a bird Left: Black-throated Gray Warbler. Photo by club member Dave Kettering during our Oct. 12 bird walk Killdeer photographed at The Summit on Oct. 19 by club member John Hansen. The sidewalk and lawn are perfect Killdeer habitat

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