On my journey across the Great Plains yesterday, I encountered a pair of Mississippi kites, cavorting above a field near the Solomon River, in central Kansas. While I had never seen these raptors so far north, they have been expanding their range across the Southern and Central Plains and individual wanderers have been documented across the northern U.S. and southeastern Canada.
The breeding range of the Mississippi kite extends from Kansas and southeastern Colorado southward to northern Texas and Oklahoma; they also breed across the Coastal Plain from southeastern Missouri to east Texas and eastward to the Carolinas. Though not generally found on the southern peninsula of Florida, isolated colonies of Mississippi kites have been discovered in the Desert Southwest. All spend the northern winter in central South America and they may be seen in large flocks during migrations.
Unlike most raptors, Mississippi kites feed exclusively on flying insects, such as dragonflies and cicadas. Agile in flight, they resemble falcons and, like the latter, often make high-speed dives in pursuit of their prey. While they hunt in open country, these colonial birds nest in riparian woodlands, building a shallow bowl of sticks; two eggs are usually produced and both parents share incubation and feeding duties. Like common nighthawks, Mississippi kites depart early in the fall, generally heading for South America by mid September.
