Mississippi Kites
At least three Mississippi Kites were soaring over our neighborhood this morning between about 10:25 and 10:45. This is about the same time I’ve seen them pass over on previous days. I’m fairly sure there were six Mississippi Kites and possibly more, but I never saw more than three at one time. Two of these were males, with white heads clearly showing, and one appeared to be a female.
All were moving in a general northeast to southwest direction, just as they have on previous days. When I first saw them this morning, they were in the distance and very high, in or near a loose spiral of a dozen or more birds circling up. They were not all Kites. Three or more were Black Vultures and some were too high to identify. But as I watched, the Kites kept circling and drifting closer and dropping a little lower. Some of them were doing some pretty impressive acrobatics now and then, diving, swerving, catching insects and flashing white as they turned sharply.