[va-bird] Mississippi kite in West Augusta

While on a strenuous 8-mile hike in the Ramsey's Draft Wilderness on
Sunday, my wife and I managed to spot a few special birds.  We would have
seen more, but had to make tracks to beat the approaching thundershowers.

YB cuckoos -- 2
Blackburnian warblers -- 3 M, 1 F
N. parula -- 1 + ~15 heard
Canada warbler -- 1 M
Ovenbird -- 1 + ~15 heard
Worm-eating warbler -- 1 + ~4 heard
Louisiana waterthrush -- 2 "dogfighting"
Black & white warbler -- 1
Dark-eyed juncos -- 2
Acadian flycatchers -- ~5
Plus red-eyed vireos and the rest of the usual crowd.  We heard a few
scarlet tanagers but saw none.

The real highlight of the trip came AFTER our big hike, however, while we
were stopping for refreshments at a country store in West Augusta.  I
happened to see the silhouette of a raptor with long, pointed wings
circling a field off to the west about 200 yards away.  It reminded me of a
nighthawk the way it chased insects, but the wings were much too long and
there was no trace of the characteristic wing stripes.  True, it was a bad
light angle made worse by post-rain glare, so I couldn't pick out colors.
Nevertheless, my 10x50 binoculars were enough to let me discern two crucial
clues: a hooked beak and most importantly, a strange "fork" in the tip of
each wing.  I had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing double.
According to my National Geographic field guide, that "forked" wing tip
peculiarity is a pretty conclusive indication of a Mississippi kite, a life
bird for me.

I've seen reports of Mississippi kites on the Va-bird list on the James
River (April 18) and (possibly, in dispute) just today at Huntley Meadows,
so perhaps the latter was the same one we saw yesterday afternoon!

Andrew Clem


=========================
Andrew & Jacqueline Clem
Staunton, VA
http://homepage.mac.com/andrew_g_clem/
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