I would enjoy hearing from others about normal / abnormal behaviors of this fascinating species! It makes sense… I wonder, though, if our unusually wet weather has disminished the cicada and grasshopper populations (although other insects are plentiful this year!). I sent my photo to Berlin and he suspects the prey was a fledgling that fell out of the nest and was an appealing target to a kite entering mating season. It’s uncertain why a bird that is known to eat only insects would change its behavior. Berlin Heck, a retired wildlife manager and expert on Oklahoma birds, published a report in 2005 about possible incidents of the kites predating other birds and found only one other photo of this happening. This may not sound unusual for a raptor but I learned that my photos of the meal were only the second documented evidence in Oklahoma of a Mississippi Kite preying on a bird. And it is quite infamous for protecting its nest by attacking golfers or people walking in parks! All of that is “normal” behavior - what I observed last week when I found a pair of Mississippi Kites at Lake Hefner was very abnormal. It is a migrant, arriving in late April and leaving in October. The good news: it’s not hard to find one! This kite is a very familiar sight in the skies above Oklahoma City as it soars and catches cicadas. The distinctive Mississippi Kite is a bird that many out-of-state birders looks for when they visit Oklahoma in the summer.
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