To learn more about where you’d stand the best chances of spotting a Mississippi kite and what kind of landscapes they nest and hunt in, then please do carry on reading. These birds are slender with short broad rounded wings and a long tail which helps them maneuver in flight. Swooping down from high above the treetops, the Mississippi kite, a hawk-like bird of prey, dive-bombed a perceived threat on the ground. Regular vagrant visitors are reported in other parts of North America, and it’s not unheard of for individual Mississippi kites, especially immature birds, to turn up in Virginia, North Carolina and even as far north as New Hampshire.

These sleek, pearly gray raptors often hunt together and nest colonially in stands of trees, from windbreaks on southern prairies to old-growth bottomlands in the Southeast (and even on city parks and golf courses). Migration passage takes them across Central America, to South America, where they spend winter months. The Mississippi Kite makes a streamlined silhouette as it careens through the sky on the hunt for small prey, or dive-bombs intruders that come too close to its nest tree. Fairly common in spring, summer, and fall in Inland Coastal Plain and Gulf Coast regions. The name kite was given to a group of birds. he lived in France until he was sent to the United States to manage an estate that his father had bought in Pennsylvania. Mississippi kites are small, agile raptors that breed in the Great Plains states of central and south and are frequently seen along the Mississippi River. Osprey, Hawks and Falcons Mississippi Kite Photo by Jimmy Andrews SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ictinia mississippiensis OTHER NAMES: Mosquito Hawk, Blue Snake-hawk, Hovering Kite and Locust-eater. They are light long-winged birds who spend much of their lives in flight. Read on to find out where Mississippi kites are most common, and whether they remain in the same territories all year round.

The Latin name of the Mississippi kite, Ictinia mississippiensis, means kite of the Mississippi River, but are these raptors limited to the areas around the ‘Old Man River’ or can Mississippi kites be seen throughout the U.S.?

Mississippi kite birds pa