Guess Who's Back? (or maybe never really left)

On my way back to Kitchener yesterday, after visiting the folks in Thorndale, I made a stop at the Wildwood Reservoir south of Stratford.  I regularly make a stop at this Upper Thames River C.A. property when passing through the hamlet of Harrington as there are a few bridges which pass right over the reservoir/Trout Creek making for an easy scan of the water.  As one might expect with the lack of snow, the reservoir is currently about 90% mudflats and 10% meandering watercourse and shallow pooled water.

After a brief hike which yielded only a Mute Swan and a few Canada Geese I did a double take at 3 Killdeer scampering about on the soft substrates across the water.  I can't say I've encountered Killdeer in February before; what's going on? 

I see there was a sighting of 1 at Pittock Lake Conservation Area on February 3.  The data on ebird shows that February 2016 records in the province are few thus far (these 2) with a 0.039% frequency for the species occurring during this week (normally they begin arriving at the start of March).  These are some tough Killdeer!  Here's hoping they fare well with the brutal cold snap forecasted for the weekend.