Observations on the Mississippi Kite in Southwestern Kansas

Part 1

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UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS

MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY -----------

Volume 12, No. 11, pp. 503-519

------------------------- October 25, 1963 -------------------------

Observations on the Mississippi Kite in Southwestern Kansas

HENRY S. FITCH

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE 1963

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Henry S. Fitch, Theodore H. Eaton, Jr.

Volume 12, No. 11, pp. 503-519 Published October 25, 1963

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY JEAN M. NEIBARGER, STATE PRINTER TOPEKA. KANSAS 1963 [Union Logo] 29-7863

Observations on the Mississippi Kite in Southwestern Kansas

HENRY S. FITCH

The Mississippi kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) is one of the common raptors of Kansas, occurring regularly and abundantly in summer in that part of the state south of the Arkansas River. In 1961, in an attempt to find out more about the ecology of the species in Kansas, I made several trips to parts of the state where kites could be found in numbers, notably to Meade County State Park in the southwestern part of the state, 71/2 miles south and five miles west of Meade. Little has been written regarding the species in this extreme northwestern part of its breeding range, where it thrives under ecological conditions much different from those that prevail elsewhere in its range. Also, the social behavior and food habits have been given relatively little attention.

In my field study I was helped by my son, John H. Fitch, who climbed to many kite nests and spent many hours observing in the field. My daughter, Alice V. Fitch, likewise aided me by keeping nests under surveillance. Dr. Claude W. Hibbard of the University of Michigan and Mr. Harry Smith, superintendent of Meade State Park, also kindly provided much useful information concerning the history of the colony of Mississippi kites at the Park. Mr. William N. Berg analyzed pellets, and Dr. George W. Byers kindly checked many of the identifications, and provided generic and specific determinations for some of the insects.

In general, the range, habits and ecology of the Mississippi kite are already well known through the publications of Audubon (1840), Chapman (1891), Bendire (1892), Ganier (1902), Wayne (1910), Nice (1931), Bent (1936), Sutton (1939) and Eisenmann (1963). The breeding range is the southeastern United States, chiefly within the Austroriparian Life-zone, but extending northwest through much of Oklahoma and into southern Kansas. The species is highly migratory. Wintering Mississippi kites are known from Argentina and Paraguay (Eisenmann, op. cit.:74), and most of the population probably winters in southern South America, but records outside the breeding range are few.

The Mississippi kite is perhaps one of the most social raptors. It is highly gregarious, not only in its migrations but in breeding colonies. All breeding pairs seen were closely associated with other individuals, with no territorial hostility; signs of intraspecific intolerance are rare, even where the kites are abundant. In the nesting season many of both sexes perch together in the same tree, and groups tend to keep together as they forage.

Secondary sexual differences are slight. Seven males in the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History collection average 351 (342 to 360) millimeters in length, and six females average 361 (348 to 370) millimeters. Sutton (op. cit.:44) collected 16 breeding kites near Arnett, Oklahoma in 1936 and 1937 and recorded that eleven males averaged 245 (216 to 269) grams and five females averaged 311 (278 to 339) grams. As indicated by Sutton, the head is paler in the adult male than in the female, and at close range this difference will serve for identification of the sexes. The difference in size is scarcely noticeable in the field.

Habitat

In Kansas this kite seems to prefer open and even barren terrain, in contrast with its habitat in forests of the southeastern states. Typical habitat of Kansas is that of the High Plains, dominated by a short-grass climax of blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) and buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides), with sagebrush (Artemisia sp.), prickly pear (Opuntia sp.) and other somewhat xerophytic vegetation. In the Gypsum Hills of south-central Kansas near the Oklahoma border, the Mississippi kite finds habitat conditions exceptionally favorable. This is an area of broken topography, dissected by small steep-sided ravines, often with brush and scrubby trees on the slopes.

At Meade County State Park groves of cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) provided abundant places for perching and nesting. At this locality an artesian well provided an abundant year round water supply, which was impounded into an artificial lake half a mile long and a little less than a quarter mile wide. Water was also impounded in a series of small ponds maintained for the benefit of fish and waterfowl. Along with other improvements extensive plantings of cottonwoods and other trees were made with relief labor in the nineteen thirties. Trees were scarce on the area originally, but by 1961 there were almost continuous groves in an area nearly two miles long and three quarters of a mile wide encompassing the lake and ponds and adjacent areas. In conversation at the Park in August 1961, Dr. C. W. Hibbard told me of his observations on the colony of kites since 1936 when his paleontological field work in that area was begun. He indicated an area of less than two acres west of the artesian well to which the colony had been limited in its nesting in 1936, because at that time few trees were available as nest sites. In subsequent years, as the trees in the artificially established groves increased in size and height, and other trees became established naturally where the impoundments had created favorably moist conditions, the nesting colony expanded in all directions, and the number of kites increased tremendously. When my observations were made in 1961, the nesting area was co-extensive with the cottonwood groves, and there were literally thousands of trees within the area that provided adequate sites for nests.

Numbers

The maximum number of kites seen flying at one time at the Park was 44, on August 22, 1961. Probably almost all there were adults, because fledglings, even though able to fly strongly by this date, were still spending most of their time perched. The colony of kites was usually scattered over at least two square miles, and at most times some were perched, others were flying low and solitarily, hence it is improbable that the total population or a high percentage of it could be seen together at any one time or place. More than 40 nests were located in 1961, and probably at least as many more were overlooked. There must have been a breeding population of at least 100 kites, and probably as many as 150 in the Park in 1961. H. B. Tordoff recorded on the label of K. U. Mus. Nat. Hist. no. 30514, taken on September 1, 1951, in Barber County, Kansas, that it was one of at least 200 at a communal roost.

Feeding

The Park and its vicinity stood out as a veritable oasis in an almost treeless region of open rolling topography, with a short-grass type of vegetation dominating. The kites displayed versatility in their choice of places to forage. Often they soared over the cottonwood groves, the lake, or the ponds, but at other times they flew far out over the plains, and seemed to prefer such open situations. A small herd of buffalo was maintained at the Park, and their closely grazed pastures of several hundred acres were favorite foraging grounds for the kites. Often the kites and buffalo were seen in close association, and at times the kites must have benefited from the movements of the buffalo, serving to flush certain insects such as grasshoppers. The latter were probably the chief food source of the kites in the heavily grazed pastures. Bent (1936:67) stated: "A flock of from 3 to 20 will sail about a person, a horseman or a team, traveling through grassy flats or bushy places, and seize the cicadas as they are scared up." Dr. Hibbard told me that on one occasion when he had caught a number of cicadas, he fed them to a pair of kites by tossing them into the air one by one, and each was seized by a kite which was flying nearby waiting expectantly.

Part 2

Mississippi kites are noted for their buoyant and seemingly almost effortless flight, and their prey is caught while they are on the wing. In extended flights the kites soar, drift and circle with frequent easy flapping, at variable heights. Sometimes they are several hundred feet above the ground. Doubtless the height is influenced by the types of insects that are flying, and where they can be found most readily. Even at close range the catching of prey by a kite is likely to be overlooked by an observer. After being snatched from the air, the prey is usually eaten while the kite is still in flight, and the movements of the head in pecking at the objects held in the talons are much more noticeable than the slight veering from the course of flight that signals the actual capture. Kites were often watched while they were hunting in the open areas around the Park. On June 1, 1961, my son and I observed 16 perched together in a small tree. From time to time each kite would leave the tree in a short flight low over the surface of a nearby pool, where it would snatch up prey, probably a dragonfly in many instances, and would return to a perch to feed. Most of the time one or several kites were in flight while the majority were perched. Similar observations were made on smaller groups perched on fence posts along the edges of large pastures. Gregarious tendencies were evident from the fact that two or more of the kites perched fairly near together on separate but sometimes adjacent fence posts. Each kite in turn would glide from its post, skim low over the ground surface for a few seconds, seize its prey with a sudden slight swerving, and return to the fence (usually to a different post from the one it had left) to feed upon the insect captured. Grasshoppers of many species were abundant in the area. It seemed that grasshoppers were flushed from the ground by the bird flying near them and were picked off before they were well underway. In any case the prey was taken from the air rather than from the ground in all observed instances. Ganier (1902:86) mentioned seeing one of these kites alight on the ground in a cotton field, where it stayed for more than a minute, but perching on the ground is unusual.

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