Kite summer

This year in our region has been a great one for flying kites. No, not the colorful kind at the end of a string. I’m talking about our most unique and graceful American birds of prey, the kites.

Readers of this column may recall that I once wrote about a pair of Mississippi kites that has apparently taken up residence at Great Pond in Simsbury. As of this summer, they are still there, being regularly seen by patient birders. These are the daintiest of kites, quick and agile in flight, with beautiful gray-and-white coloration. No evidence has yet come to light that they are nesting in Simsbury, but it would not be surprising. Another pair was documented nesting in upstate New York this summer.

This past spring brought numerous sightings from Westchester County and surrounding areas of the even more spectacular swallow-tailed kite. Larger than the Mississippi kite, with a deeply forked tail and ebony-and-ivory plumage, this bird is the essence of elegance as it dips and soars effortlessly in flight.

And then, a month ago, a white-tailed kite appeared in Stratford, Conn., and has been sighted there every day since by hordes of eager birders. Why the excitement? This particular bird is the first of its kind ever seen in Connecticut, and only the second ever to have been found in the East.

This medium-sized kite ordinarily is found on the West Coast of the U.S., as well as from Mexico southward, and generally inhabits open grasslands and savannas. Previously known as the black-shouldered kite, it is well known for exhibiting the appropriately named “kiting†behavior, of hanging nearly motionless on the air while hunting prey.

Of our regular raptors, the red-tailed hawk and the American kestrel sometimes engage in kiting, though less frequently.

The swallow-tailed and Mississippi kites are hardly less surprising, but have been recorded in our region more often, and a pair of Mississippi kites was even confirmed nesting in New Hampshire. The swallow-tailed kite’s range also is primarily tropical and subtropical America.

Undoubtedly the presence of these birds — along with the equally bizarre appearance of two or more American white pelicans on the New York and Connecticut coasts — will be a cause for much speculation. Even though these rarities are “fringe†events, often of more interest to birders than to ordinary people, is it possible they signal something more significant?

Certainly global warming accounts for the northward expansion of many birds’ ranges, and this summer has been the warmest yet. The consistent presence of the Mississippi kites seems to fit the pattern. Those birds may well be here to stay, and even if the warming trend unsettles you, at least the birds will provide great entertainment and joy to many.

Swallow-tailed kites, perhaps because they are so mobile in flight, seem to have a propensity to wander occasionally, so look for them to show up on a rare but occasional basis. If you ever look up to see a hawk-sized bird with a fabulous forked tail soaring on the sky, you’ll know it, and you won’t forget it.

As for the white-tailed kite, time will tell whether this extremely unexpected visitor will reappear in our area frequently, or only after an interval of decades, or never. The great joys of birding are wondering, waiting … and watching.

Fred Baumgarten is former Nature’s Notebook columnist for The Lakeville Journal. He can be reached at fredb58@sbcglobal.net.