Classic bird paintings

Killdeer painting: Audubon's plate and other classic portraits

John James Audubon painted the Killdeer as plate 225 of The Birds of America (1827–38), a male and a female in summer plumage, under the name Kildeer Plover. A free high-resolution scan is on Audubon.org. The Killdeer shown here is from H. E. Dresser's A History of the Birds of Europe (1871–81).

Updated October 3, 2026

A Killdeer with two black bands across its white breast standing on a pebbly shore — Killdeer, from H. E. Dresser's A History of the Birds of Europe. H. E. Dresser, A History of the Birds of Europe (1871–81)

About this painting

This Killdeer comes from Henry Eeles Dresser's A History of the Birds of Europe (1871–81). Several artists painted the plates for Dresser's book, and our copy of this one doesn't name its painter. In Louis Agassiz Fuertes's plates for Birds of New York (1910–14), the Killdeer is plate 39, with three other plovers.

Audubon’s Killdeer: plate 225, “Kildeer Plover”

Audubon noted that Kildee was the better name, from the bird's call, and that “run like a Kildee” was a saying for moving very fast.

While he lived in Pennsylvania, the son of his tenant, the miller, caught newly hatched birds for fish bait. One morning Audubon met the boy coming from Perkiomen Creek “with his hat full of young Kildees.” He made him take them back, and watched the chicks run off and hide under the stones.

Story: Audubon’s Ornithological Biography, vol. 3 (1835). See plate 225 free at Audubon.org.

More classic portraits, free to see

John James Audubon, The Birds of America, octavo edition (1840–44), plate 317: “Kildeer Plover”. Free scan (New York Public Library Digital Collections)
Louis Agassiz Fuertes, for Elon H. Eaton’s Birds of New York (1910–14), plate 39: “Killdeer Plover”, with American Golden-Plover, Black-bellied Plover and Semipalmated Plover. Free scan (Internet Archive)

About the Killdeer

Killdeer feed with short runs and pauses, picking food from the ground. (Source: National Audubon Society)
The Killdeer's call sounds like its name. (Source: National Audubon Society)

The oldest known wild Killdeer lived at least 10 years and 10 months: it was banded in Kansas in 1963 and found there again in 1974. That is a record from bird banding, not a typical lifespan. (Source: USGS Bird Banding Laboratory, 2025 longevity table.) How long do wild birds live?

Buying a print?

An original plate 225 is a hand-colored sheet about 26 by 38 inches, printed in Britain in 1827–38; many prints sold today are reproductions or small 1840s octavo prints. How to tell an original from a reproduction.

In a Birdfolio, the hardcover book of your own life list, this painting sits beside the Killdeer with the date and place you first saw one. See your own list as a book, free.