On this balmy evening, as I lounged on our back deck, a pair of Mississippi kites soared overhead. Having wintered in southern South America, they are returning to their breeding grounds which are concentrated across the Southern Plains, the Lower Mississippi River Valley and the Southeastern U.S.; that range has been expanding in recent decades and now includes scattered locations throughout the Midwest (including here in Central Missouri).
Renowned for their graceful flight, these aerial hunters feed on large, flying insects; they are most often observed on calm summer evenings, swooping or diving into swarms of dragonflies. Nests, often communal, are placed in groves of tall trees along streams.
The return of Mississippi kites is a spring highlight for many avid birders (myself included). Completing their long-distance migration, these agile and attractive raptors are just the latest sign that the chill of early spring won't likely return until mid autumn (an unwelcome warning for some of us).
