The urge was too great so I took the time to drive down to Campbell Co.
(Friday) and arrived around 12 noon. From the main road looking out over
the open fields, I could see the two kites soaring low. I traveled up the
farm road to the back field where I joined Fenton Day, Paul Glass and
another gentleman whose name escapes me at the moment.
The one kite that is sporting the satellite tracking pack with antenna has a
tawny wash on the underside. I have sent images off to confirm if this is a
recently fledged bird. The other kite with its bright white underside and
head and deep-forked tail appears to be an adult.
Around 12:30 I saw what looked like a third kite flying further out over the
trees. Distance and bright sunshine didn't help but it appeared smaller but
definitely kite-like. I felt certain it was a Mississippi Kite, in all
likelihood the same one observed and photographed by Allen Larner on
Thursday. By time I called attention to a 3rd kite it had disappeared. One
fellow noted the crow to the right - nope, the bird I saw most definitely
was not a crow. Another fellow pointed to the nearby vulture. No, No, No,
definitely not a vulture.
About 20-30 minutes later, shortly after Fenton Day was on his way to South
Boston, Paul Glass spotted a distant kite that turned out to be the
Mississippi Kite - a juvenile. Luckily this bird came in closer,
occasionally interacting with the Swallow-tails, and providing fairly close
side-by-side size comparison; the juvenile Mississippi was noticeably
smaller. Paul made a quick call to Fenton who returned to see the three
kites.
Here are web links to just a small sampling of the 200+ images I took.
Click each image for larger view.
SWALLOW-TAIL KITE
http://www.birdsofvirginia.com/GalleryPages/Swallow-tailKite_Gallery.html
MISSISSIPPI KITE
http://www.birdsofvirginia.com/GalleryPages/MississippiKite2_Gallery.html
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."
