Cherish is my favorite word, and I cherish the ability of turning the routine into a beautiful moment.
Nature creates in me, a spiritual and meditative time to bring peace, harmony and balance, into an otherwise ordinary day~
Mary Howell Cromer







Friday, August 18, 2017

Mississippi Kites, One of My Favorite Shares in 8 Years~



On July 21 st I first introduced you to the Mississippi Kite family.  Their nest was in a tree on Gilman Avenue in the city of St. Matthews, KY, just down the lane from where I grew up and where my mother lived for 36 years.  The same length of time that I now have lived on Tingsgrove, as a sweet matter of fact ;)
I had known of the Kites nesting on Gilman Avenue for a couple of years, however I never had the street address until this season and as many times as I had looked in the past, I was so delighted to finally know of the nest location and get to spend several times these past few weeks viewing them.  
 This I believe was their 5th, or 6th year to return to Gilman.  They used the same nest tree last year that they used this season.  When you take these beautiful and amazing creatures and then they travel so many hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles during a migration and then they return to the exact same street and even at times the exact same tree, that is absolutely incredible and wonderful!
I can only hope that next year they shall once again return to Gilman and I will learn of the location early on in the season, for this has been a great opportunity for me, one that I have enjoyed fully, even the fact of having to drive some 20 miles each way, so worth it~


Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slideshow presentation after                                                                you have read the narratives~

I am joining in the fun with Eileen at:
Saturday's Critter

Anni at:
http://id-rather-b-birdin.blogspot.com/ 
I'd Rather Be Birdin'
 Linking to I'd Rather B Birdin'

    
Maggie's  MOSAIC MONDAY
                                              https://normandylife.blogspot.com/


Stewart for:




This nest produced two young ones, and seven total of young raised on Gilman Avenue to date~



The images above were taken one day about mid-morning and the ones below were taken just as the sun was rising and so the sky will look different in these sets~





It is quite rewarding to be patient and to wait for the feeding to begin.  The Mississippi Kite diet is made up of mostly large insects like Cicadas, Crickets, Grasshoppers and Dragonflies, but they have also been known to take small frogs, snakes and at times birds~



Once the feeding begins, there will be sometimes two and three deliveries offered per thirty minutes and then there is a pause before it begins again~







The young left the nest going on 3 weeks ago now and they spend a lot of their time trying out different flight techniques, soaring off in the distance and then coming back to their favorite perch stands, and preening. They have not yet begun to catch their own food, but maybe if they are still there when I visit the location over the weekend, they will have started that as well~







This set where the adult has brought a meal in for both young birds is some of my very favorite images taken during the past few weeks.  I am so thankful to Marge Constan for helping me locate the nest and these amazing birds~












After they have eaten and preened, they enjoy making quick flyovers~



                      This is probably my favorite set that I have taken and shared so far. 
             The adult (the lighter coloured bird) brings to the young ones two large insects 
          and it will in these image shares be maneuvering one insect to each young one, and                    having to make a quick flight back and around to get the second one it's catch...
                         I hope that you have enjoyed this post as much as I have enjoyed the                                                                          pleasure of putting it together.
               Take care, be safe wherever you are, whatever you do.  I treasure each of you.
                                                                                  God Bless~




















18 comments:

  1. Hello, Mary! I did enjoy your Mississippi Kite post. I am glad they return to the same street and tree for their nest. It would be a lifer for me, I hope to see one some day. Your photos are just awesome. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful photos!
    The only time I have seen a Mississippi Kite was at a wildlife center for injured animals.
    Have a great week-end!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Mary. And thank you for sharing your observations and wonderful photos of these special birds and their nesting progress. You certainly put in lots of time and effort to make this post.

    I was struck by the kites' pointed wing shape in flight, broad at the base and then tapered to a point. Very obvious ina couple of your shots and quite unlike any other raptor I have seen.

    You asked about the harrier. Well the species subject to most peresecution in Grouse country is the Hen/Northern Harrier, and will be the one you supported in a petition.

    The one I featured is the closely related Marsh Harrier, a species not normally targeted by gamekeepers, but sadly was on this occasion.


    Take care. All the best.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Awesome presentation and photos of the Kites ~ would be thrilled too to have them on my street ~ thanks, ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great find! And such amazing photos! I really love the ones of them feeding their young, but al the shots are just so stunning! Thanks for sharing these!

    ReplyDelete
  6. awwwwwwwwwwwwwww

    what a lovely feathery family

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow...I am green with envy! All the years I have been briefing I have yet to even SEE a kite. Lucky you...and such fantastic images!

    ReplyDelete
  8. PS....Thanks once again for doing your narration and sharing the wonderful photos this weekend. We birders at I'd Rather B Birdin' are always appreciative.

    ReplyDelete
  9. BRILLIANT post Mary, very informative, from its eating habit it sounds a little like our Hobby.
    Take care and have a good week, Gordon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your photos are as usual...spectacular! We lived here in Florida for awhile before we knew what Mississippi Kites were. We first identified the Swallowtailed Kite and then realized the other Kite is just as common. Last weekend, I was a flock that was mixed with both types of Kites. It was exciting to see about a dozen Kites swooping and soaring over a field. Thanks for sharing....love seeing them close up! Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I don´t think I ever heard of this Kite before. Wodnerful coloring of teh adults. So lovely to watch your gorgeous images of the Kite family. I have seen 4 or 5 kinds of Kites before but not this one. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello!:) Wonderful narrative and photos of the Mississippi Kites. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit, and thank you for all the work you put into your post.:)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Mary - how many superlatives can I put in this comment? Awesome. Stunning. Unbelievable. Beautiful. Shall I go on? Thank you so much for putting together this post in such a thorough way - it was like watching a movie!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Nice captures and fun narrative.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Congrats on your detective work Mary! I do swear though that you are the Red-shouldered Hawk whisperer. Oh and you also do wonders with those Barred Owls:) Stay safe and have a great weekend! Chris

    ReplyDelete
  16. It is so evident that this is, indeed, one of your favourite shares, as your narration is chock full of so much interesting information about the Mississippi Kites, and especially, this wonderful, little family. How observant you are, Mary, to have been able to do such a thorough job of recording their eating habits and their flight progress, among everything else in such detail! I hope they are doing fine, out there, on their own!

    Hope you are well, too, my dear friend. It's been a busy summer for me, here, back on the island, and I've been absent from the blogosphere here and there, but have enjoyed my return, visiting beautiful blogs like yours.

    Have a lovely week,
    Hugs,
    Poppy

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh my gosh Mary this whole series was beyond amazing -- you learned and shared so much information as well as your stunning pictures; I loved everything about this post. Some of those pictures should be shared with a wildlife journal or magazine or the Audubon Society ... they are simply stunning.

    ReplyDelete

I enjoy each visitor to "Red Shouldered Hawks of Tingsgrove and Beyond" I truly appreciate those who have become followers to my blog and really am encouraged by the wonderful comments.
FYI if you leave ANONYMOUS comments, they will never get published, so please don't waste your time.

Thanking you~