Mississippi Kite

During a brief visit to Flower Mound, Denton County, Texas on 19 July 2017, I was delighted to find Mississippi Kites. I have not been in Mississippi Kite territory since seriously taking up bird photography and found it difficult to capture in focus images of these raptors as they swoop back and forth. 

This kite dove into a residential yard and came up with what appears to be a small snake, which the bird consumed in air. Numbers of Mississippi Kites are on the upswing, and in the southern Great Plains, they can be abundant. In many parts of their range, populations have moved from forests into urban areas. They often breed in large colonies. Mississippi Kites eat insects, often on the wing. They also take small vertebrates, like frogs, snakes, lizards, birds, and mammals.

These kites breed in woodlands and city parks. In parts of the western United States, kits attack people who approach nesting sites, resulting “many public relations, management, and educational challenges” (Parker 1999). I found the last kite in this post in a small Flower Mound city park. The day was painfully hot and humid, with temperatures above 100 degrees F. Great weather for Odonata, but a bit tough for birds and other dragonfly hunters.