![]() ![]() The nests are raided by raccoons and, at times, presumably, by Horned Owls and by hawks. Violent summer storms destroy many nests on the High Plains. Owls and hawks are mobbed in similar fashion. When the nest contains young the parents be come more vociferous up to a dozen may gather to swoop at an intruder. When incubating, the birds sit closely and some do not leave the nest readily. If the young are small, the parent then feeds them if not, they pick the mass to pieces spend several minutes eating it. Insects are sometimes visible protruding from the beak of the parent, but most of them are brought to the nest in the crop, from which the mass of insects is disgorged into the nest. Mostly the feeding parent spends less than 30 seconds at the nest rarely over a minute. ![]() During the early period, when the young require much food, they are fed frequently, on average every 5? l0 minutes. The young spend about 34 days in the nest. Nesting is usually quite well synchronised within a colony, but a pair will recycle at least once if the eggs are destroyed. One to three bluish white eggs are laid, and incubated by both parents for about 30 days. ![]() ![]() They are usually irregular or oval in shape averaging fourteen inches long, eleven inches wide, and five inches in depth, with a shallow cup lined with green leaves. Some are small and flimsy others are more compact. The nest is placed in a fork or crotch at almost any height within a tree. Twigs are also seized and snapped off with the feet by diving from a height. Green twigs are snipped off with the bill while the bird is perched. Old nests are often used, either the one of the previous year or an old crow’s nest, and the amount of refurbishment done is minimal. Mating takes place without display or calling, and such nest-building as they do begins about a week after arrival. There is little or no courtship display, although a pair sometimes fly about ‘chippering’ at each other. The body plumage is like that of the adult, but the under-wing coverts are white-barred the inner webs of the inner primaries marked with white, and there is some whitish barring on the lower abdomen and thighs.Īlthough they migrate in flocks, the kites appear to have formed pairs by the time they arrive in the breeding grounds. In immature plumage the juvenile wing and tail quills are retained. The juvenile plumage is not kept for very long it is usually moulted before the autumn migration. The eyes not as red as those of the adult. Below it is white, tinged with buff and streaked with brown. The throat is white with a few inconspicuous black shaft streaks. The wing and tail feathers are tipped with white, and there are two ventral white tail bands. Its back is black, with narrow rufous edges and white spotting. The juvenile kite is white streaked with black on the crown and the sides of its head. The adult female is similar but the head and shoulders are darker, and the female is appreciably larger than the male. The eyes are deep red the beak, cere, and inside the mouth deep black the legs reddish orange. The under parts are pale grey, but not as pale as the head. The lores and a narrow area around eyes are black. The tail and primaries are black, the inner primaries with pale rufous area and spots. The mantle is dark grey, becoming black on the bend of the wing the upper back blending with paler hind-neck. The adult male Mississippi Kite has a pale grey head, the pale grey extending to the back of its neck and its secondary flight feathers, the secondaries being tipped with white. ![]()
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