[va-bird] Mississippi Kites in Prince William County

VA Birders,

I was able to get some decent pictures of the Mississippi Kites in 
Prince William County this afternoon and I put them up on my website. 

http://www.virginiabirding.org

The light was not good for the nest picture but at least it shows what 
it looks like.  It appears to be in a Red Oak tree.  Greg got a bunch of 
video footage as well.  Once he edits it, I'll put it up as an mpeg 
file.  We saw at least three different kites, but Jim and his neighbor 
think they may have seen as many as six!  Wow.  There is one other 
confirmed nesting record this far north (from Woodbridge) and 
undoubtedly they have nested in Northern Virginia at least the last few 
years (because they are seen at Huntley Meadows with some regularity)  
but that's on the Coastal Plain.  This is probably the northernmost 
confirmed nesting of this species on the Piedmont.  They've picked a 
good year.  A steady diet of cicadas and dragonflies should keep their 
young happy.  I plan to go back and attempt to document them feeding 
young but my camera skills are not the greatest.  This is the golden 
opportunity for you photographers out there to get some shots of a 
charismatic species nesting!

Thanks to Jim and his neighbors for keeping an eye on the birds and 
being so accomodating.

Sue

-- 
Susan A. Heath
George Mason University
Environmental Science Department
Fairfax, VA

Secretary, Virginia Avian Records Committee
Keeper, Virginia Comp List at www.virginiabirding.org



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