Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 08:54:21 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Harvey, David A." Subject: Mississippi Kite MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Thursday, 11 Mar, in the front of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, I saw a small raptor. The bird was close to but smaller than a crow. At first it was flying straight away from me at some distance. (no binoculars) When it banked I could see that it was basically an all gray bird, definitely a raptor and with a somewhat smallish head. The wingtips were black. The tail was compact (sideways) and fairly long. My first guess was Kite, then I thought possibly a male Harrier. After looking at films and books, there is little doubt that it was a Mississippi Kite and it was definitely NOT a Harrier. The bird was only in view a few seconds as it banked to the right and quickly headed to the west where it disappeared behind a row of trees. Maureen was with me, but it happened so quickly that she never even saw the bird. I wish I had more details and another observer, but there is no doubt in my mind that it was a Mississippi Kite. ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================