Rich, Congratulations and thank you for sharing the exciting news. As you point out, this is the first time Mississippi Kite will have been documented successfully nesting in New York State, and one of only a handful of examples in the northeast. The presence of three adult/subadults is particularly interesting. If I recall correctly, most if not all of the sightings at the beginning of the season involved just one or two birds. I find it hard to believe a wandering individual would have somehow found this pair and joined in for the last stage of chick rearing and instead favor the idea that one of the three would have been incubating on the nest and thus hidden out of sight. Scrutiny of photos from various days to see if three different birds can be distinguished might be able to address this speculation directly. Also, is it known from the literature whether the 'helper' kites are most often related to the adults they help? If so, this would suggest the senior pair produced a chick in a previous year.
Interesting food for thought and discussion. Keep the reports coming. We are anxious to know how the fledgling fares and whether there are any more. -- Angus Wilson New York City & The Springs, NY, USA http://birdingtotheend.blogspot.com/ -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
