MISSISSIPPI KITE

L 15" W 36"

Video clip (taken in Spring 2001 in Greenwood, Texas by Mary Curry)

FIELD IDENTIFICATION: A summer resident of Wise County, an adult Mississippi Kite has a pale, almost white head, gray body and gray tail.  The wings are darker gray, with white secondaries.  The wings are tapered to a point, almost like a falcon, and the tail flares outward at the tip.  When soaring, a kite's wings look less falcon-like, and the tail is fanned.  At a distance, a kite can appear to be all dark with a white head.

The immature is the same shape, but instead of being colored with smooth gray and white, it is brown-streaked, with a banded tail.

Field I.D. by Claire Curry