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Re: EXTRALIMITAL: Mississippi Kite BONANZA

From:

Maryanne Dolan

Reply-To:

Maryanne Dolan

Date:

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:31:38 -0400

Don
Wanna clue the rest of the world in on location of Kings Park?
thanks
maryanne dolan
Elkton, MD

On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Donald Sweig <> wrote:

> When I arrived in Kings Park this morning, a local birding friend was
> already there, and the sky was full of kites. I immediately had an
> excellent
> frontal scope view of two perched birds  (an adult and the sub-adult).  The
> banding on the sub-adult was clearly visible.  Both birds soon took off and
> were joined by another adult, all three of which flew around for us to see.
> A few minutes later  Joe Turner and Leslie Starr, from Baltimore, arrived
> and we watched (Joe photographed) the birds for over an hour. We often had
> all three birds in the same field at once  Several times both an adult or
> the sub-adult would circle nearly overhead about 150 -200 ft.up. The
> banding
> on the retained juvenile tail feathers, and the whitish mottling on the
> under-wing coverts of the sub-adult were clearly visible. We had several
> views of them perching as well. These were the best close views I have ever
> had of Mississippi kites, especially the sub-adult.  A one point I saw an
> adult fly into a thickly leafed tree in a yard where I had not looked
> before. I thought it was going to perch. As I  was searching, in my scope,
> for the adult perched bird, I found a large stick nest.  I showed it to
> both
> Leslie and Joe in my scope.  A few minutes later I saw a kite fly into the
> nest, from the back side, and apparently feed a chick. I did not see the
> chick, but it sure looked like feeding behavior by the adult.  I saw this
> happen again later and show it to Leslie in the scope.  I will keep an eye
> on this stick nest, but it appears it might confirm nesting for this year.
> It was all quite a bonanza: amazing views of flying and perched birds, and
> almost certainly an active nest across the street. Not too bad for a hot
> Sunday morning.
>  --
>
>
> --
> Donald Sweig
> Falls Church, Va.
>