My experience with killdeer is that they will nest anywhere there is
suitable size gravel in which to make their scrapes. Once I lived in an
apartment in Wisconsin and we had killdeer nesting on the edge of our gravel
parking lot. Nearby at the local college they nested in gravel adjacent to
the emergency vehicle operation course (in use every day) so we had to put
out pylons to mark the nest and anyone hitting those pylons flunked the
course for the day needless to say. At the state park I worked part-time at
we had a killdeer nest in the new gravel about a foot from the main roadway
into the park. It sat thru several inches of late snow and raised 4 young
right next to the road.

Here I've had killdeer come up into the yard in the middle of the night
during waxing moons and late night high tides on Hood Canal. I'm about a
quarter mile from the Tahuya River and about 2 miles from the Canal.
Hearing killdeer in the middle of the night is weird to say the least. When
they are makin sure their precocial kids have enough to eat they have to
work extra hard to get food.

So finding killdeer in the midst of the city on a ball field or playground
in not out of the question. Have fun watching them.

Mary Hrudkaj
hrudkajm at hotmail.com
Belfair/Tahuya