Hi all,

Exciting news! An active nest of Mississippi Kites has been discovered
in northern Hocking County. An alert homeowner had tipped me to these
birds a few weeks back, then followed up later with some photos, one of
which showed two adults in the same tree. She continued to monitor them
when possible, and called early yesterday morning to report that a new
bird - heavily striped below - had appeared on the scene. By now it was
clear that there was an active nest nearby. I could not make it down to
the site due to a meeting, but Tim Daniel, photographer for the Ohio
Division of Wildlife, was able to make the trip and Tim deserves major
congratulations for finding the actual nest - the first nest of a
Mississippi Kite discovered in Ohio. We never could find the nest at the
Brass Ring Golf Course in southern Hocking County even though the birds
there obviously nested locally.

As of right now, it appears that the adult kites are still feeding one
youngster in the nest, although the nest is high enough off the ground
and concealed well enough that the contents can't be seen. But when
adult kites are flying to the nest with annual cicadas and stuffing them
into something, you can pretty well be sure there is a kitelet in there
gobbling them up. And the other youngster is already out and
free-flying. Mississippi Kites normally have two eggs per clutch.

Tim took an absolutely incredible series of photos of both the juvenile
and the adults, including a stunner of one of the adults eating a cicada
wile on the wing. I'll post some of these to my blog later tonight:
http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/

It appears that Mississippi Kites are colonizing the Hocking River
Valley and environs. The Brass Ring Golf Course pair in southern Hocking
County came to light in 2007 (Ohio's first breeding record), and the
following year a pair was noted in nearby Athens County, although
nesting wasn't confirmed. Now we have this pair in northern Hocking
County. One has to wonder how many others might be out there, and
hopefully we can look forward to seeing even more future expansion of
this beautiful raptor.

The reason for not getting the word out earlier is that the kite nest is
located in Hide-A-Way-Hills, a private resort that is gated. One cannot
just wander in; permission from a landowner is required and the guard at
the gate must have an authorized name for entry.

We really want to help provide an opportunity for interested parties to
see these birds, and the landowner has very graciously helped to work
out a plan for doing so. She lives in Columbus and is only at
Hide-A-Way-Hills on occasion, but will be there this Saturday morning,
August 21st. So, if you are able to make the trip between 9 am and noon,
we will make sure that you are provided access. If you would like to
visit the kites, please e-mail me your name so that we can provide it to
the gatehouse. I'll send interested parties directions as well. I'd need
to know if you would like to go by 5 pm tomorrow, as it won't be
possible to turn in any names after that.

Sorry for the short notice on this one, but circumstances just didn't
allow for other options.

Jim

 

Jim McCormac

Ohio Division of Wildlife

2045 Morse Rd., G-2

Columbus, OH 43229

614-265-6440

 


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