Message:

[

Previous   Next

]

By Topic:

[

Previous   Next

]

Subject:

Re: Mississippi Kites Not Yet in U.S.

From:

Terry Bronson

Reply-To:

Terry Bronson

Date:

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:03:52 -0700

Rick Sussman has alerted me to a sighting of a Mississippi Kite
in Gainesville, Florida the second week of March this year by 2
members of the staff of the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center,
so I will concede there is the possibility of an extremely small
number of that species that migrates through Florida, though
I'm sure well over 99% go through Texas.

My original statement was based on Sibley's Field Guide range
maps, which show only scattered rare sightings in Florida south
of the Gainesville area, which is the apparent southern limit of
their breeding range. There is no migration range shown for
Florida--only for Texas.

In addition, Iain MacLeod, past President of the Hawk Migration
Association of North America, made a recent post to th NH Birds list
serv on this subject on March 19 in response to a reported sighting
of a Mississippi Kite in NH on March 18.
(see http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NHBD.html#1269031360).

I have also checked the "Field Guide to the Birds of the West Indies"
by Herbert Raffaele, et al., published in 2003. Mississippi Kite is not
listed at all in that Field Guide. Its coverage includes "those [species]
for which there exist a minimum of either two specimens or photographs
from the region, or six separate sight records by reliable observers."
Since Mississippi Kites migrating through Florida would have to
traverse the West Indies (or less likely the Yucatan area of Mexico),
the failure of the species to meet the minimum requirements for inclusion
in the West Indies Field Guide is pretty strong circumstantial evidence
that Mississippi Kites are non-existent, or nearly so, in the West Indies.

I did find one reference in a Google book called "Mississippi Kite:
Portrait of a Southern Hawk" by Eric Bolen and Dan Louis Flores, at this link:
http://books.google.com/books?id=yK0VjPLCmPcC&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=Mississippi+Kite+Florida+migration&source=bl&ots=G36L-DIQ3Q&sig=58201TkRl7YEe743xhoYTHEYNTI&hl=en&ei=IP2oS_eMLYnuswOKzLitAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CCcQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=Mississippi%20Kite%20Florida%20migration&f=false. This link admits the possibility of
a few Trans-Gulf migrants, but indicates no evidence.

"Birds of North America Online" also deals with this subject. I do not
subscribe so I cannot quote the complete relevant description, but a
Google search for "Mississippi Kite migration" yields a BNA link with
this description: "Little evidence that Mississippi Kites normally migrate
from U.S. other than via Mexico; rare records for Yucatán Peninsula ..."

I thank Rick Sussman for his information. Hope this clarifies my earlier
statement. Still, as others have already posted, a Mississippi Kite in
MD around March 20 would be weeks earlier than the earliest existing
records.

Terry Bronson
Morgantown, WV 




________________________________
From: "" <>
To: ; 
Sent: Tue, March 23, 2010 11:48:48 AM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Mississippi Kites Not Yet in U.S.

Hi all,
To say that "all Mississippi Kites migrate through Mexico around the west end of the gulf of Mexico, crossing the Rio Grande in south Texas" is not completely correct. My daughter and her boss saw MIKI in Gainesville Florida during the second week of March this year. They were there for a bird-related conference (both work at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center). I think they were birding at Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park when they saw it. At any rate, she brought me back a checklist for the park, and MIKI is listed as Uncommon in Spring (March, April and May) with uncommon being "usually present in small numbers, observed infrequently." And I know a fellow birder who lives in Gainesville who has them nesting in his yard (obviously not at this time of year).

Rick Sussman
Woodbine,MD




-----Original Message-----
From: Terry Bronson <>
To: 
Sent: Tue, Mar 23, 2010 7:31 am
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Mississippi Kites Not Yet in U.S.


I'd like to call your attention to the status of Mississippi Kite migration
in 2010. All Mississippi Kites migrate through Mexico around the west
end of the Gulf of Mexico, crossing the Rio Grande in south Texas.

As of yesterday, not a single Mississippi Kite had been reported at
the primary Mexican hawkwatch site at Chavarillo near Veracruz, Mexico.
See the following Hawk Migration Association of North American link.

http://hawkcount.org/month_summary.php?rsite=647&ryear=2010&rmonth=03

So the Kites are still south of Chavarillo. Thus, the Mississippi Kite reported
in MD recently is likely something else--most probably one of the Falcons.

Also, FYI, Broad-winged Hawks have just started to move, with the first
100+ day only being on March 19 at Chavarillo. See same link. So it'll
be a few more days, at least, before they get to MD and WV, with this
week's not-so-good weather perhaps delaying them even more.

 Terry Bronson
Morgantown, WV