University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History

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

  October 25, 1963  

Observations on the Mississippi Kite
in Southwestern Kansas

BY

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




29-7863

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, 7½ 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 (Buchloë 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