The Kites Are Back . . .

The Mississippi Kites are back, they are a medium size bird not quite a hawk but has hawk like features.  They feed mostly on insects but are known to eat moles and small vermin too.  So sometimes they act like hawks.

They like to nest close to lakes and we are of course close to Lake Weatherford.  And we have plenty of trees, mostly Post Oaks, but a scattering of Live Oaks and Red Oaks like Shumar or Barkley Oaks.  They seem to like to nest in and around our neighborhood.  We have tons of oak trees.

They are migratory birds and spend our winter in Uruguay or Paraguay in South America.  They arrive this time of year and it is here where they nest and usually raise a young chick.  They rarely have two birds in the nest, one one off spring per year.  But they are like Blue Birds and exist as a family.  So if you see one, you will see more of them.

In our area there are a couple of dead trees and they like to sit in them and survey the hunting grounds.  The youngster will sit there all day and his parents will fly in a feed him or her.

I have seem up to nine in our family of kites.  When you see a youngster roosting, look around and sure enough you will see two or three others watching over the chick.

They are very graceful fliers.  And unlike other raptors, they have smooth curved wing that ends in a pointed tip.  No tip feathers like you will see on hawks or buzzards.  They soar but seem to move about at a little faster rate than the slow moving buzzards.

The Kites will spend the summer with us and in late August or early September, they will depart for their winter home.  But you can be sure summer is here if the Kites have arrived and sure enough, Spring is just about over.  Soon the temperatures will be peaking toward a 100 degrees.