( Audubon Adopt-a-Bird, 2000 Austing, 1997 Parker, 1999 Robbins, et al., 1966 Texas Parks & Wildlife, 1996) Immature birds are sometimes confused with the young of broad-winged hawks and peregrine falcons. They retain this juvenile plumage until their second fall.Īdult Mississippi kites are occasionally mistaken for northern harriers, but they do not have the white rump or broad and pale body of northern harriers. The tails of juvenile Mississippi kites have three thin white stripes on the underside. Their upper body and wings are dull black with some light colored edging on the feathers. They have white or buff heads, necks and undersides heavily streaked with brown and black. Immature Mississippi kites look very different from adults. This coloration helps distinguish these kites from other raptors in flight. Their wings are narrow and pointed, and wing tips and tail are black. Mississippi kites have red eyes with a black area around the eyes and yellow to red legs. In addition to being larger, females tend to have a darker head and shoulders than males. They are grey and black in color, with a light grey head and underparts, and dark grey to black backs and upperwing coverts. The wingspan of adult Mississippi kites ranges from 75 to 83 cm (average 79 cm). Males range from 34 to 36 cm in length and weigh 214 to 304 g. Females are larger than males, ranging from 34.5 to 37 cm in total length and 270 to 388 g. Mississippi kites are small falcon-shaped birds of prey. ( Audubon Adopt-a-Bird, 2000 Austing, 1997 Fantina, 2001 Parker, 1999 Robbins, et al., 1966 Texas Parks & Wildlife, 1996) In the south-central Great Plains, Mississippi kites prefer woodlands and oak savannas mixed with prairie. They prefer large tracts of forest near to open habitat such as pastures or agricultural fields. In the central plains and southwest part of their breeding habitat, Mississippi kites live in mature bottomland forests with mixed hardwood trees. ( Audubon Adopt-a-Bird, 2000 Austing, 1997 Fantina, 2001 Robbins, et al., 1966 Texas Parks & Wildlife, 1996) Mississippi kites migrate to the tropics or subtropical areas in South America, southern Florida or southern Texas for the winter. Over the past ten years, the range of Mississippi kites has increased, and the species has been seen wandering as far north as New England in the spring and to the tropics in the winter. They are found in the largest numbers in the central states of Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Mississippi kites breed in Arizona and the southern Great Plains, east to the Carolinas and south to the Gulf Coast.
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