On this hot, humid afternoon in central Missouri, a trio of Mississippi kites soared above our Columbia neighborhood, feasting on insects. Their energy under such conditions is impressive.
After nesting and summering across the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley, they will escape to South America for another summer in the Southern Hemisphere, traveling through hot climes along the way. When you feed primarily on flying insects, it is best to be where they thrive.
While their seasonal movements are instinctual, these kites are certainly unfazed by weather that many, if not most humans, find oppressive. Then again, they are not subjected to dire heat advisories.
