I was hoping to make it to bed before midnight but that obviously did not
happen.
It's been a very long day launch of the 36th season at Rockfish Gap Hawk
Watch and taking a 2nd trip down to Campbell Co. with friend Gordy Adamski.
We arrived around 1:30 and joined a few other folks still present,
including Mr. Dave Dawson, who originally found and ID'd the kites, along
with his daughter, Kim. The SWALLOW-TAILED KITES, both now determined to be
juveniles, were present for most of the afternoon, at least during the time
we were there between 1:45 - 4:20 p.m. Unlike yesterday, when the birds
spent a good deal of the time low and closer in, today they "reached for the
sky," nearly disappearing high overhead, barely a detectable dot.
Occasionally they would descend down to earth and come in close. The
Dawson's reported seeing TWO Mississippi Kites before we arrived and they
eventually showed up, again, flying high and further out. A while later
they ventured closer in and circling around with the two Swallow-tails. At
one point, while sitting in the TOYO seeking shelter from the heat of the
day and looking upward through the opened moon roof, Gordy and I had all
four kites in view. Then I caught site of a distant bird further to the
south coming in high. Another kite, a third Mississippi! Several of us
watched with delight as the five kites circled overhead, joined by passing
Broad-winged Hawks, and a juvenile Red-Shouldered Hawk.
I managed to individually photograph all three MIKI but they were high up.
It appears that two are juveniles, HY2011 and one subadult. Initially
someone thought one to be an adult. In the distance, when it banked, it
appeared to have the pale (whitish) wing patches but they were not
pronounced. When images are zoomed in, the bird has some streaking on
underneath with bands in the tail.
Here is web link to the gallery of images of the SWALLOW-TAILED KITES. The
top row was posted yesterday and the bottom row are images taken today.
http://www.birdsofvirginia.com/GalleryPages/Swallow-tailKite_Gallery.html
Brenda
Brenda Tekin, Stuarts Draft, VA --
Blue Mountains Nature Photography, including Birds of Virginia -
<http://www.birdsofvirginia.com/> www.birdsofvirginia.com
<BLOCKED::mailto:bt8x@xxxxxxxxxxxx> brenda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx / (434)
962-4936
"Leave behind what you find; if you must take something, take pictures."
