Mississippi Kite in Flight
Just a few days later, I watched another Mississippi Kite. It was a hot, humid, sunny summer morning, with cicadas singing loudly and small insects swarming in shafts of light. The sleek, dark raptor with long, pointed wings appeared in a soft blue sky. Its shape and flight were so neat and crisp they might have been drawn in ink against the sky.
For several minutes, it circled directly above me, slowly rising higher, and I watched the whole time, only turning away when it flew right across the path of the sun. It was absolutely glorious to watch – its cool, dark gray and shining near-white pattern cutting through the hazy air with such cool grace.
I watched as it sailed in large circles, floated in the air, and once it appeared to lean over to eat something from its talons. After several minutes, it had climbed a little higher and I thought it was going to keep climbing and maybe sail away, but instead, it suddenly plunged down fast, from fairly high, directly down, and disappeared behind some distant trees. I waited for a few minutes more, but it didn’t reappear.
Like the essence of summer in flight, a Mississippi Kite was a beautiful note on which to end this month of June.