As you may have heard, Jessie and I observed a Mississippi Kite this afternoon shortly after Tom Johnson and the two of us saw Black Vulture flying overhead northeast of the Ithaca airport. Thanks to Tom Johnson and Mark Chao for helping get the word out.
Jessie and I were headed down Hanshaw road, just north of Monkey Run (north) when we saw the bird coming out of circle. I immediately pulled over (much to the dismay of nearby drivers who appeared to be unaware of a vehicle’s ability when a rare raptor is spotted). Jessie and I watched the bird cruise west and out of sight. We quickly drove to Freese Road and pulled over near the garden plots, where the bird circled to the south over the creek and then continued to glide westward along the creek before dipping down below the trees. We continued on to various places but were unable to refind the bird. The kite was similar in shape to a Peregrine Falcon, but slimmer bodied and with narrower wings and narrower tail (making it appear fairly long tailed). The narrow tail widened slightly at the tip (unlike Peregrine). The lighting was poor, but the bird appeared grayish overall with a much paler head. When viewed from above as it circled against the trees at one point, the secondaries contrasted paler than the rest of the wings and tail. This pale area was the secondaries and not the tips to the greater secondary coverts. We did not see any sign of rufous in the wings and did not see any barring on the tail. This appeared to be an adult given the pattern on the secondaries. I’m not completely familiar with how much variability exists in the pattern on the remiges with second-cycle kites, but the extensive pale secondaries seem to indicate an adult. The tail barring on immatures is often difficult to detect in poor light, so not noting barring on the tail probably doesn’t mean too much. Hopefully the bird will float around tomorrow so that others can enjoy it. Chris Wood eBird & Neotropical Birds Project Leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York http://ebird.org http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
