Killdeer at Kokanee Cr

[terry lowrey]

We saw our first Killdeer on the shoreline west of Kokanee Creek yesterday. Seems early?

Ursula

[mindobarbet]

Hi,

Early-ish, but not remarkably so. Generally, they start to turn up in the third and fourth weeks of March, but one was recorded on today's date as far back as 2003, and there have been sporadic reports of them in the area in the first week of March over the years. 

Two birds were first seen on the Selkirk College trails on the first of Feb - that was undoubtedly early.

Chris

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From: wkb...@googlegroups.com <wkb...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of terry lowrey <utlo...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2026 8:03 AM
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Subject: WKBirds Announcement: Killdeer at Kokanee Cr

 

We saw our first Killdeer on the shoreline west of Kokanee Creek yesterday. Seems early?

Ursula

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[Cynthia Fraser]

Hi Ursula,  

This year on Feb 14, 2026, My father Alistair and I photographed a Killdeer along the west shore at Kokanee Cr. That one was definitely early.

Cynthia Fraser

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[Sachi Snively]

Hi All, 

Killdeer are an interesting one as according to eBird sightings they are observed in our region every month of the year. January is the most sparse with sightings only in Creston, Castlegar, Nakusp, the Walter Clough Santuary south of Slocan, and Fauquier. Birds of the world describes their migration strategy as a “Medium-distance partial migrant” and notes that their movements are complex and not well understood which rings true for my experience with them. Gary’s Checklist for our region has them listed as “Uncommon" starting in mid February changing to "Fairly Common" in April through to the third week of September. Then they are “Uncommon" again until mid October. From mid October through to mid February they are “Casual” which means that they don’t usually occur annually and usually in small numbers and at great intervals. That is to say we don’t tend to see many and most years none. 

Our eBird sightings for the region show a somewhat similar trend but albeit with a broader range of when they are observed (screenshot attached). 

For those who use eBird and are interested the link will take you to the Illustrated Checklist of our region which shows media (if available), and a bar chart which is derived from those of us who submit to the dataset. 

Since we are talking about the West Arm (Nelson to Balfour), Killdeer have been observed up until the 27th of December (Nelson), but never in January. They appear again as early as the 21st of February. For example on eBird there are only four records of Killdeer in along this stretch with three in Nelson in February (2005, 2016, and 2024) and one at Sunshine Bay (2025). We can add Alistair’s sighting on the 14th to make it five. By mid to the third week of March sightings are more common so I would agree that for this area we are seeing them early this year. 

I am gleaning all this from eBird which not everyone contributes to so it is a patchy picture at best. It relies on coverage (people out birding and submitting lists), and the winter months is when many people are not as active with many areas being left unbirded. Places like Nakusp, Castlegar, and Creston have pretty consistent coverage on eBird so it is no surprise that there is a more full picture for those sites. 

Thank you for starting this discussion Ursula, it has been an interesting one to ponder. 

Sachi

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