My First Mississippi Kite

I enjoy being around people who get excited by seeing wildlife. Here a naturalist at Hawk Ridge is showing us a hatch year female sharp shinned hawk. Her yellow eyes looked at the naturalist in outrage. Soon she was let go and she flew south and west. Eighty per cent of these hatch year sharp shinned hawks won't live a full year. These birds have long tails and short powerful wings so they can fly through forests looking for song birds to eat. Several merlins flew by. I learned that the way to tell an American kestrel apart from a merlin is that a merlin will fly by faster than you can say the word merlin.

One of the male naturalists sewed this barred owl on a hat. On his own hat he sewed a broad winged hawk, a kestrel and a goshawk. This man has a talent.

At about 3:15 in the afternoon we were releasing another sharp shinned hawk when the counters interrupted us to point out a Mississippi kite. This is my first Mississippi kite ever. The crowd cheered as the kite flew over our heads on it's way south. Today was a good day for birding despite the heat. Birds flew by in waves every few minutes.