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Posted by tricia on 15:27:07 07/08/08
I ran out to Chekika this morning looking for a kite fix as I haven't seen one in several weeks.
About a 1/4 mile east of the yellow metal gate, I found two White Tail kites perched waaay out on the south side of the road.
I wasn't sure about the second bird because it looked odd. Then I realized it was a juvenile still molting into "proper" plumage.
Further down the road I found 2 more WTKs again perched but this time one was quite a bit closer to the road. Once again, the distant bird looked odd and in the time it took me to figure out that it was another juvie, the near bird flew off followed by the kid. In looking at my "speck in the sky" grab shots that I greatly enlarged, it seems that the juvenile WTKs have that yellowish breast stain like a young Swallowtail Kite. Pretty neat.
Back home and working in the yard just now, I heard an odd squeaking and looked up to see 2 Swallowtail Kites hunting in my yard! The first bird flew over my head and had a large nestling in its claws and was followed by another loudly squeaking ( which sounded much different than the courtship squeak)Kite.
I'm guessing that again it was an adult followed by a kid.
This is a least 3-4 weeks early for Kites in my yard.
Might have to start filling a feeder or two in case the buntings come back early.
BTW-Also seen at Chekika were purple martins, meadowlarks, 2 roosting nighthawks,cardinals,blue jays,loggerhead shrike and redshoulder hawks.
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