{"id":2447,"date":"2011-06-04T08:43:59","date_gmt":"2011-06-04T14:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2447"},"modified":"2025-11-11T07:04:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T13:04:16","slug":"killdeer-and-willets-territorial-disputes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/06\/04\/killdeer-and-willets-territorial-disputes\/","title":{"rendered":"Killdeer and Willets – Territorial Disputes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"KilldeerKilldeer near nesting site – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the habits I have developed after becoming a serious bird photographer is observing and learning about bird behavior and the habitats I find the birds in. I believe that by doing so I have optimized my chances of not only seeing the birds more readily but I have also gained skills that help me anticipate when the birds might show specific actions.<\/p>\n

I’m always fine tuning my photographic skills to become a better bird photographer plus I learn something new about birds nearly every time I go out to photograph them.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week while photographing birds on Antelope Island State Park<\/span><\/a> in northern Utah I spotted some Willets perched on top of sagebrush and further down the road some that were perched on rocky outcrops of some hillsides.<\/p>\n

In Florida I rarely saw Willets perched on natural features, for the most part they stayed on the sand or waded in shallow waters of the Gulf coast or tidal lagoons.<\/p>\n

Here in Utah I can find them along the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake, wading in freshwater lakes, marshy ponds, wetlands, in semiarid grassland locations, and perched on rocks and shrubs.<\/p>\n

I’ve been very happy to add Willet images with vastly different habitats and backgrounds to my portfolio.<\/p>\n

\"WilletWillet on a hillside rocky outcrop – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1250, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light <\/span><\/p>\n

Driving further south on the island I heard the shrill calls of several Killdeer. Some of the birds were in flight and\u00a0more were on the ground, all of them seemed alarmed.<\/p>\n

At first I suspected it might be our presence even though we were using the vehicle as a mobile blind but then I realized it might be the presence of the Willets perched on the rocks and foraging in the grasses.<\/p>\n

Killdeer and Willets do share the same types of nesting habitats here in Utah so I began to watch the actions and behavior of the birds more closely because it is currently mating season.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Killdeer in flight – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light <\/span><\/p>\n

The Willets appeared to be calm except for struggling to maintain their balance on the rocks in the strong breezes that were present that day.<\/p>\n

The Killdeer; on the other hand, were exhibiting defensive behavior towards the Willets.\u00a0 The Killdeer were flying near the Willets, the closest I would estimate was within two feet though the Willets didn’t seem to notice or be bothered by the aerial antics of the Killdeer.<\/p>\n

At one point I counted five Killdeer on the slope of the hillside within several yards of a Willet calling loudly and acting agitated.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Killdeer near nest – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/1250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light <\/span><\/p>\n

I kept watching the Killdeer while photographing them and the Willets, I wondered if the Killdeer had nest close by.<\/p>\n

Killdeer don’t build a nest per se, they scrape at the ground and form a shallow depression and the nest in my experience can be very difficult to see. The eggs of Killdeer are speckled and camouflaged quite well.<\/p>\n

I can\u00a0presume the Killdeer were upset that the Willets were in their nesting territory because the entire time the Willets were present the Killdeer kept voicing their alarms calls.<\/p>\n

\"KilldeerKilldeer on nest – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light <\/span><\/p>\n

Because I kept carefully observing the Killdeer I was rewarded when I saw the Killdeer above settle into its nest. This image shows how easily the scrape can be hidden and the eggs almost invisible.<\/p>\n

When the Killdeer flattens itself over the eggs while brooding it would take a very keen eye to detect the presence of the nesting site.<\/p>\n

The next day at the same location there weren’t any Willets nearby, there were no alarmed Killdeer in the area even though our presence was known.<\/p>\n

Although I knew the general location of the nesting site above I wasn’t able to relocate the nest because it blends into the habitat so well! I’ll keep looking though and just maybe I’ll see the chicks soon.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

PS, I don’t think either the Willets or the Killdeer won the territorial dispute but it sure made the session interesting!<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Killdeer photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Willet photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the habits I have developed after becoming a serious bird photographer is observing and learning about bird behavior and the habitats<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,27,1022,267,26,308],"tags":[4004,4051,4073,4144,750,11978,751,270,592,752,3975,274,165,591,4168,4047,4748],"class_list":["post-2447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-killdeer","category-utah","category-willets","tag-adult","tag-adults","tag-breeding-season","tag-charadrius-vociferus","tag-conflict","tag-desert-island","tag-hillside","tag-killdeer","tag-nesting-area","tag-rocky-outcrop","tag-shorebird","tag-shorebirds-2","tag-spring","tag-territorial-disputes","tag-tringa-semipalmata","tag-willet","tag-willets"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/killdeer-adult-utah-mia-mcpherson-9832.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-Dt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4838,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/18\/mating-killdeer-thanks-to-a-coyote\/","url_meta":{"origin":2447,"position":0},"title":"Mating Killdeer – Thanks To A Coyote And My Keen Eyes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I wrote about Long-billed Curlews having a Territorial Encounter but earlier that same morning I had another wonderful photographic encounter thanks to a scruffy looking, rain soaked Coyote waking up at the top of a ridge.","rel":"","context":"In "Antelope Island State Park"","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Killdeer dismounting, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, 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days ago I stopped and took a long series of photos of three Killdeer near the entrance to the auto loop.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Preening adult Killdeer, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/killdeer-spring-refuge-mia-mcpherson-5378.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/killdeer-spring-refuge-mia-mcpherson-5378.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/killdeer-spring-refuge-mia-mcpherson-5378.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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It was no surprise that I found several at Bear River MBR last Monday.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Killdeer walking in shallow water at Bear River MBR, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/killdeer-flats-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5519.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/killdeer-flats-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5519.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/killdeer-flats-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5519.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/killdeer-flats-marsh-mia-mcpherson-5519.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}