I was in Arlington this afternoon and had several Mississippi kite sightings,
mostly around 17th and 18th and Utah.
One was a bird I had not seen there before.
Both of the birds that I saw and photographed on Thursday, both perched and
flying were adult kites.
One of the birds that I saw today flying was also clearly an adult.
The other kite that I saw flying today, several times, and was able to
photograph is a subadult, second-year bird. It appeared to have the white head
of an adult, and may have retain some juvenile underwing and body plumage, but
most importantly it clearly showed the brown striped tail (left over from its
juvenile plumage) of a subadult, second-year Mississippi kite.
I have never seen a subadult Mississippi kite at this location in Arlington
before. It is apparently not unusual for a subadult kite to return to a
breeding site with adult birds in the spring. There are many documented
sightings.
(Four Mississippi kites were observed yesterday near Monticello Park in
Alexandria, and at least one of these was a subadult bird).
Subadult Kites have been observed in helper activities such as nest defense
with adult breeding birds.
I will be watching the Arlington Kites very carefully in the future to see
whether they have the solid black or dark-grey under tail color of an adult, or
whether they have the brown-stripe and patterned tails of the subadult.
Donald Sweig
Falls Church, Va.
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