Observations on the Mississippi Kite in Southwestern KansasFitch, Henry S. (Henry Sheldon)
Science
Observations on the Mississippi Kite in Southwestern Kansas
Fitch, Henry S. (Henry Sheldon)
Birds -- Kansas; Mississippi kite
At Meade State Park I gained the impression that much of the foraging
is carried on near the nest. The short time lapse between successive
feedings was one indication, and from time to time while keeping nests
under observation, I saw kites that were individually recognizable as
the owners coursing back and forth in the vicinity. However, only a
few individuals were recognizable. For several minutes before and
after delivering food, such an adult was often seen soaring within 200
to 300 yards of the nest, or sometimes much closer. A somewhat
different impression was received on August 23, 1961, at Natural
Bridge, south of Sun City, Barber County, Kansas, where I observed two
pairs of kites feeding fledglings. One fledgling was seen to be fed
ten times in a 11/2 hour period. The transfer of food from the adult
usually required less than a minute. Then the adult would leave the
tree, in a ravine, and drift away. Circling and soaring, it seemed to
be wandering aimlessly, but within two or three minutes it was usually
out of sight over the horizon. In what appeared to be slow, lazy,
flight it usually drifted off to the west, to more upland areas of
short grass and sage brush. Once, watching from a high knoll I
succeeded in keeping it in view for almost five minutes, and during
most of this time it appeared to be between one and two miles away,
but it finally moved off even farther. Dr. Hibbard mentioned seeing
kites in the vicinity of the Jinglebob Ranch eight to ten miles from
the Park, and he believed that these individuals had come from the
Park since there was no suitable habitat in the intervening areas.
Actually, the distance could have been covered in a few minutes'
flying time, but it is unlikely that these individuals were feeding
young at the Park, else they would not have wandered so far. On
several occasions groups of from three to 20 individuals were seen in
open terrain as much as four or five miles from the Park.
Breeding Cycle
Probably kites arriving from their northward migration are already
paired. In those observed at the Park in the first week of June, there
was no indication of courtship, or of sexual rivalry. On June 1, 1961,
incubation had begun. The birds had arrived some three weeks earlier,
according to Smith. Although arriving from the south long after most
raptors have begun their nesting, the kites are not further delayed by
establishment of territories and choosing of mates, and nesting is
underway soon after their arrival. According to Sutton (1939:45) the
nest-building is an exceedingly leisurely process. In the first two
weeks after their arrival he observed that the kites only occasionally
bring a twig to the nest, usually repairing last year's structure
rather than starting a new one. Sutton recorded egg-laying on May 17
and 18 and hatching on June 18 in northwestern Oklahoma, and the
timing of these events must be similar in Meade County, Kansas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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