The children's toy called a kite was named after the bird. Along their migratory route in places such as Panama, sometimes thousands swirl in the air together. They form large flocks and migrate together. After the nesting season, Mississippi Kites disperse and head to their wintering grounds in central South America. NotesĪ video about the Monticello Mississippi Kites can be seen on YouTube. They often are harassed by crows, and they attract less attention when they vocalize less. They can be quite vocal, but they are quieter when incubating or when young are in the nest. The call of the Mississippi Kite is a plaintive two-note whistle. Here are video links to the two kites mating and one of the kites preening. The pair built a nest, but they later abandoned it. A pair of Mississippi Kites came to the same neighborhood in 2018. They start to fly about five days after leaving the nest. The young generally stay in the nest for 25 to 30 days, at which point they start to move to nearby tree limbs. Physical DescriptionĪs the nestlings grow, their downy white feathers are replaced by darker feathers. You are more likely to see one if you are on Beverley Drive near the front entrance to the park. There is no special way to look for them. Mississippi Kites are sometimes seen in the air over the park. You can see either adults or one of the streak-breasted juvenile birds. This nest was thought to be the most northerly successful nest for Mississippi Kites that year in the Washington area.įall: When Mississippi Kites nest in the neighborhood, you might see one in or near the park at any time until they take off on the their migration south, which usually occurs around the middle of September. They had nested in the neighborhood next to Monticello in previous years, and in 2017, a pair produced a chick in a nest a block up the hill from the park. The first sighting at Monticello Park was in May, 2016, and kites were seen flying over the park on a few occasions in May, 2017. During the ensuing years, more kites have arrived, and they have slowly moved their breeding activity into Alexandria and Arlington. The first breeding record in the area was in 1995 in Woodbridge, Virginia. They will come back down later in the day and provide better looks as they swoop around and perch on handy treetops.Spring: Mississippi Kites have expanded their breeding range into the Washington metro area. As the warm air begins to rise on summer mornings, carrying insects with it, the kites rise too, and by midday they may be soaring high in the air. These days, kites may be found almost anywhere in our area they are just as likely to be nesting in your neighborhood as out in the countryside.
In fact, they are one of only three Missouri raptor species to make such a migration, vacating the United States completely in winter. They arrive in spring, usually May build their stick nests in tall trees and raise their young and leave again in August and early September, for a long southward journey that takes them down through Mexico and Central America to northern South America.
Elegant and classy, Mississippi Kites wheel over rivers, woodlands, and suburban yards and parks in their daily search for prey, which mostly consists of large insects like grasshoppers, dragonflies, and cicadas, although they will also take frogs, mice, small birds, and other vertebrates.
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