[TN-Bird] White Tailed Kite

From: "Patty Ford" <pattyford@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Tn Bird List" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 2009 22:42:15 -0500
I have not been able to get back to Cades Cove to try to spot this guy
again.  I know it seems too good to be true, but I hope SOMEONE in the area
will try to get up to the Hyatt Lane area and look for the White Tailed
Kite.  I've consulted a couple other books (Sibleys shows the range as far
north as the GA/TN line), and am convinced that it is truly a White Tailed
Kite.  Surely some of the elite birders in KTOS will be willing to at least
go up and take a look.  I'd hate for you all to miss out on seeing him! J
 

The setting (Jan 1st): Hyatt Lane (second cut-through road on the Cades Cove
Loop Road), just before the second bridge, on the left side of the road.
Judy Massey and I were watching a gorgeous immature Northern Harrier coast
over the field there.  (Judy had a camera in her hand, no binoculars.)

 

I noticed this very white-breasted bird about 100 yards out in the field in
a row of large, bare hardwood trees.  I went through the field, stopping
every 10 or 15 yards to look again; then from about 30 yards away, with
Nikon Monarch 10x40 binocs, had a very clear view of him perched about 30'
up and about 8-10' out on a branch.  He was facing almost towards me as I
walked across the field, then turned in profile and stood up and ruffled his
wings, then took off and flew slightly down and away from me. 

Points that convince me of the identification:

Smaller than a Northern Harrier

Sitting high in a perch

Completely white breast and head, with a black smudgy eye spot

Yellow legs and feet

DARK wings on top - not grey, but very dark. (I never saw the underside of
the wings, so could not see the black shoulder patch.)

Completely white tail

When he flew away, the tail was flared, no subterminal or terminal band, and
he had a "kite" look: more compact in body and wings than long like a
harrier.  I stood for a minute listing in my mind the field marks,
especially the solid white tail, and thought to myself, "Kite.  Don't know
what kind, but a kite."

 

OK, somebody go look for him!!

Patty Ford

Knox County - Knoxville



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[TN-Bird] White Tailed Kite

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