Hi All -
If you are in the Lake Smith Terrace area of VA Beach this evening keep
your eyes open for a Common Nighthawk feeding over this end of Lake Smith.
At about 555pm I spotted its bounding flight profile on slender pointy
looking wings held above the diagonal and the diagnostic white patches
across the primaries were easy to see as it flew over.
I have been trying to keep track of the resident Mississippi Kite movements
so that the late date for them here will be somewhat narrowed down. Now
that the young fledge is far afield at times its been tough. For the last
six days I have been able to watch sometimes one sometimes two adult Kites
soaring and hunting in the skies over Aragona Rd from the dead end of Red
Coat Rd that backs up to a schoolyard field. Looking out across the field
I can spot the Kites flying above the horizon over the school roof and
sometimes diving into a tree about two blocks back from Haygood Red. Its a
far look and today they were quite high. One was definitely a male as its
secondaries and head were prominently white every time it banked in the
right direction. If they are there again tomorrow I will try to locate the
area they dive into. I was unable to locate the young fledged bird in
Thoroughgood this afternoon but it was presumed to be the one whistling
above Curtis around 630 to 7am this morning.
Tracy Tate
