Killdeer

We live near a popular killdeer nesting area in Ann Arbor, so our spring and summer evenings come with a constant soundtrack of their keening calls. They're shorebirds but are often in distinctly non-shore places, like the gravel shoulder of Ann Arbor'strain tracks, and the way they run reminds me a bit of Wily Coyote - all skinny legs furiously pumping while the rest of the body levitates along.