Mississippi Kites are amazing to watch in flight, especially when diving on
some minuscule prey from high above. Yesterday as I watched a local adult
kite's aerial acrobatics it suddenly folded its wings and plummeted
earthward out of sight behind a house and trees. It soon reappeared
carrying, not the expected cicada or dragonfly, but a bird (possibly a
female House Finch)! The kite circled upwards, plucking the bird as it
went. It was oddly beautiful to see the delicate trail of feathers lit by
the sun streaming out behind it as it circled overhead. And, to keep the
adult on the important task at hand, I heard the fledgling calling to it
from an unseen nearby perch.
Later in the afternoon I watched an adult kite circle overhead as it got
the locked-on-prey stare and started to dive. It happened so fast that I
could only think that the kite was coming straight towards me! I saw the
diving bird skim the side of ash behind me, coming within feet of the
driveway where I stood before doing a spectacular turn away from me, to zip
up and behind a spruce. The kite was close enough that I felt I could have
touched it if I had reached out. The sound of the air rushing through its
flight feathers as it turned was loud! It was all so amazing that it made
me laugh. I don't think the MIKI caught anything other than my attention.
Keep looking up!
Mary Yandell
Douglass Hills/Jefferson Co.
