Tracking down Mississippi kites in Mecklenburg County
In 2009, area birders were excited about the discovery of a pair of Mississippi kites that set up a nesting territory near Providence Spring Elementary School. The soaring birds could be easily seen daily as they hawked for dragonflies above the treetops. That pair represented the first, and only, nesting record for Mecklenburg County. They returned a second year and briefly for a third but disappeared. Sporadic tantalizing reports of Mississippi kites farther north up Providence Road continued, but the birds could never be pinned down.
Last Sunday, I received a report from a knowledgeable local birder who lives in the vicinity of Alexander Road that two kites had been seen that day. The next day, they were seen again in the same spot, so I took a drive over to try my luck at finding them. As I drove down Alexander Road and approached the intersection of Brookfield Place, I spied two kites against the clouds. That’s a really nice bird to see in Mecklenburg County.
The next challenge is to try to document a nest or fledged young. It’s a long shot, but I am hopeful someone reading this may be seeing these birds in their yard or neighborhood. The kites appear to be spending a lot of time from Alexander Road east to Shaftesbury Lane. Study the photo accompanying today’s column if you are seeing hawks or hawklike birds in your area. Neighborhoods in that area will also have red-shouldered hawks, Cooper’s hawks, broad-winged hawks, and possibly red-tailed hawks that could be nesting. I am hopeful that there is at least one Mississippi kite nest thrown in the mix. To see more photos of Mississippi kites, visit my blog at piedmontbirding.blogspot.com.
If you don’t live in that immediate area, I’d still like for you to study the photos. There have been a few reports of single Mississippi kites from the county, so there could be yet-to-be-discovered pairs, too.
The Mecklenburg County Breeding Bird Atlas is in its final year. It would be great to document nesting Mississippi kites as part of that project. Send me any photos of hawks that might be nesting in your area. You might have the winner.