This past Sunday evening (June 29) the naturalist working at Burr Oak State Park stopped by to let me know that he again had just seen one Mississippi Kite near Burr Oak State Park in Morgan County.  He was at the ranger office near the lodge entrance of the park, off of State Route 78 on the east side of the reservoir - just north of Bishopville.  He again had good looks at the bird and the field marks described pointed to nothing less than this species.  After the first report of this bird(s) on June 21 by the same person, I searched high and low for these guys but had no luck.  I looked all over the north end of the lake near the group camp - which provides great kite habitat, large rolling fields and edge of an otherwise massive forest.  I hiked around the lodge itself, and around dock 3 road which also offers habitat that could potentially attract these birds preferences. After the latest report, we strategized on where else I could search
 and since then have hiked the trail just north of the ranger station to some other open areas on the northeast end of the lake.  I am going to continue to look around all the parts of the lake, as soon as I can.  So it seems as if at least one bird may be lurking in this area, but I have not seen it myself.  Hopefully some local birders can get out during the day and mornings to look for this kite. On an ending note, I was fortunate enough to collect some great OBBA data for the park, including Yellow-throated, Cerulean warblers, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Gnat-catcher, Crow and Red-shouldered Hawk - just to name a few. 
 
Glen Crippen
Burr Oak Lake




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