We just got back from a trip to Long County (about 200 miles) to see the Swallow-tailed Kites (Elanoides forficatus) and Mississippi Kites (Ictinia mississippiensis). That trip was featured in my last post. Then I learned there was a gathering of kites in Madison County, the county adjacent to Oglethorpe County where we live.
I have never before seen kites gathering in the Georgia Piedmont Province prior to their migration to Central and South America. I have always had to go to the the Georgia Coastal Plain. So I made a couple of trips to Madison County to check them out. There were plenty of kites, but mostly they were pretty far away, so it was more difficult to get good photographs. But here is what I managed to get.!
The kites are feeding in a very large field. Out in the middle of the field is this large dead tree.The tree is about 400 yards from the place where I had to stand to take the photographs in this post. The kites periodically come to the tree to rest a bit between flights. Also, unfortunately, they persist in facing away from my camera!
The number and type of kites in the tree is constantly changing. In this photograph there are five total. The two on the left branches of the tree are Swallow-tailed Kites and the three on the center and rightmost branches are Mississippi Kites.
Here are seven Swallow-tailed Kites.
Two Swallow-tailed Kites look on as another lands.
I covered a lot of details about these birds in my last post and in two previous posts about the Long County kites. Here are links to my last post and to the previous Long County posts. By going to these you are able to go to any of my previous posts about kites. (You can also find them by putting the word kites into the search box at the top of the entry blog pages.)
From August x, 2015: Two Types of Kites
From August x, 2015: Kites Versus Beetles
From August 8, 2018: Wake of Kites
The rest of this post will be various photographs I took today (August 9) and yesterday. at the Madison County location. Some are not so good, because I had to take them at extreme distances, and hand-holding my camera.
It was nice that there were lots of Mississippi Kites today. On our last trip to Long County, we only saw a couple. Swallow-tailed Kite on the left, Mississippi Kite on the right.
A view of the underside of a Mississippi Kites. They really have intricate patterns on light and dark feathers
Back of a Mississippi Kite. Note the rounded tip to the tail, which is barred, and the lighter colored head.
Both types of Kites were feeding by swooping low over the field to snatch insect prey out of the air with one of their feet. I never saw a kite land on the ground.
Now for the Swallow-tails!
I was lucky that this one flew close enough to the edge of the field for me to get a decent photograph. Swallow-tailed Kites have a wing span of about 50 inches whereas Mississippi Kites are smaller; their wing span is only about 30 inches.
This Kite is using both feet to bring the prey to its beak. Usually with the June Bugs (Cotinus nitida) and dragonflies they were mostly catching, one foot was enough.
One last photograph to illustrate the beauty and grace of these fantastic birds.
I saw lots of other interesting stuff while I was waiting for the kites to fly close enough for me to photograph. Look for these in a subsequent post!