Thanks to Jim McCormac for the great news about the Mississippi Kite
fledgling in Hocking County.  It's fabulous to have this graceful raptor
nesting in Ohio.

Mississippi Kites have been doing quite well over most of their range in
recent decades.  They have certainly increased in numbers as breeding birds
on the southern Great Plains.  In northern Texas, Oklahoma, and southern
Kansas, from what I've read, they were pretty localized prior to the 1950s,
but they were expanding their range and population there from the 1950s
through the 1990s.  When I was living in Wichita, Kansas, as a kid in the
1970s, the kites were becoming fairly common around several of the city
parks.  Going back there for visits in later years, I was startled to see
the kites easily over every part of the city in summer.  They have also
become can't-miss birds over much of central and western Oklahoma and the
Texas panhandle in summer.  Humans undoubtedly have created more nesting
sites for them by planting tall trees (such as cottonwoods) around cities,
towns, farms, and shelterbelts, because their favored habitat is
characterized by tall trees interspersed with open country.

During the same period when Mississippi Kites were increasing on the
southern plains, they also established western outposts in Colorado, New
Mexico, and Arizona.  The Arizona colony is especially interesting, because
it's so isolated from other populations.  When the birds were first
discovered there, along the lower San Pedro River in 1970, there were
already at least ten pairs present.  The species has been nesting there ever
since.  Probably no more than a few dozen pairs are involved.  They have
nested sporadically at a few other sites in Arizona, but in my experience
the San Pedro population is the only consistent one in the state.  The
habitat there features tall cottonwoods adjacent to open farm fields.
Studies have shown that cicadas are the main items in their diet in Arizona
and in some other areas.

I haven't been down to check out the Brass Ring Golf Course (we've been gone
a lot), but golf courses often provide ideal habitat for Mississippi Kites,
with the open fairways next to groves of tall trees.  It would be wonderful
if these birds came back next spring (after their journey to South America
and back) and if they were to establish a regular nesting colony here.
Experience elsewhere suggests that this sort of thing could happen in Ohio.

Kenn Kaufman
Rocky Ridge, Ohio

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]