I recall that there was an influx of Mississippi Kites at several locations
in MD in conjunction with the cicada brood that emerged in 2004. I'm sure
many birders remember being entertained at Sean McCandless's house in
Cecil County by daily views of kites hawking cicadas from the air. Even
though the current cicada brood is not found in all parts of MD, it may be
drawing kites to the region.
Marcia
_____________
Marcia Watson
Bowie, MD
<mww...>
On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 11:52 AM, world oceans <world.oceans7...>wrote:
> Sue, This is excellent -- a real kite spring for you! By the way, in the
> process of observing kites on and off in the Southeast over the past year,
> I've encountered a number of reports which turned out to be N. Harriers or
> Am. Kestrels and possibly a Merlin, rather than Miss. Kites as reported.
> The kite is not always as easy to identify as the field guides would lead
> one to believe!
>
> Nice work!
> James Gibson
> Silver Spring
>
>
> On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 12:01 AM, <susiericc...> wrote:
>
>> *Fort Smallwood Park
>> Pasadena, Maryland, USA
>>
>> * *Daily Raptor Counts: *May 29, 2013 *Species* Day's Count Month Total Season
>> Total Black Vulture 1 49 550 Turkey Vulture 15 919 7304 Osprey 2 75 521 Bald
>> Eagle 2 85 160 Northern Harrier 0 12 71 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 75 845 Cooper's
>> Hawk 2 31 271 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 257 Broad-winged
>> Hawk 66 506 620 Red-tailed Hawk 0 43 246 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden
>> Eagle 0 0 1 American Kestrel 0 2 273 Merlin 0 5 39 Peregrine Falcon 1 3 5 Unknown
>> Accipiter 0 4 14 Unknown Buteo 0 2 8 Unknown Falcon 0 0 1 Unknown Eagle 0
>> 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 8 17 Mississippi Kite 1 16 16 *Total:* 90 1837 11219
>>
>> Observation start time: 9:30 am Observation end time: 3:00 pm
>> Daylight Savings time Total observation time: 5.5 hours Official Counter Sue
>> Ricciardi Observers: Mary Jane McMillan
>>
>> *Weather:*
>> Partly cloudy; 75-87 degrees; poor to fair visibility with haze; winds
>> mostly from the WSW, 6-10 mph
>>
>> *Raptor Observations:*
>> A pretty good day for migrants this late in the season; another
>> Mississippi Kite, unaged, at 11:45 am daylight time, flying directly north.
>> We are retracting the first of the ten Mississippi Kites counted on May 21.
>> This individual was observed at quite a distance, but photos were taken.
>> One of them appeared in an ebird list and some questions were raised. The
>> entire set of photos was then distributed to several experts and the
>> consensus was that a few of the photos favored American Kestrel while
>> others were inconclusive. Happily, with today's kite, the total for the
>> season stands at 16, a record number.
>>
>> Non-raptor Observations:
>> ebird list: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14285612
>> ------------------------------
>> Report submitted by Sue Ricciardi (<susiericc...>)
>> Fort Smallwood Park information may be found at:
>> http://www.mdbirds.org/sites/mdsites/hawks/hawkwatch.html
>> Site Description:
>> Fort Smallwood Park is located on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay at
>> the mouth of the Patapsco River, 11 miles south of Baltimore, MD. Best
>> winds are from the southwest. The Park is closed to visitors on
>> Wednesdays.
>>
>> --
>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
>> Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
>> To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on
>> the web at http://www.mdbirding.com
>> Posts can be sent to the group by sending an email to
>> <mdbirding...>
>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
> To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on
> the web at http://www.mdbirding.com
> Posts can be sent to the group by sending an email to
> <mdbirding...>
>
>
>
--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Group 'Maryland & DC Birding'.
To view group guidelines or change email preferences, visit this group on the web at http://www.mdbirding.com
Posts can be sent to the group by sending an email to <mdbirding...>
|