It is smaller than many birders think, with its wing span and overall length roughly halfway between that of a Peregrine and Merlin. Size - A Mississippi Kite is not the same size as a Swainson’s Hawk or Northern Harrier or Peregrine Falcon, as has been described in some documentations.Remember that kiting basically just means the same thing as hovering, that almost any species of raptor can hover, and that some raptors like Red-tailed and Rough-legged hawks and American Kestrels do it all the time. Other Kiting Raptors - If you see a raptor kiting, it has to be a kite, right? Hardly.(So does the falcon-shaped Common Nighthawk, for that matter.) Though the flight of these two falcons differs from a kite as they hunt, the Mississippi Kite is falcon-like in its profile, and the potential for confusion clearly exists. Other Insectivorous Raptors - Remember that Merlins and American Kestrels also catch and eat dragonflies and other large insects on the wing.Perhaps the best I can do here is to offer some other thoughts to keep in mind the next time this kite flies your way. But how do you describe all this in words adequately enough to preclude other raptors from consideration? Frankly, I’m not entirely sure I can. Once you’ve seen them catching dragonflies in flight or rising as a migrant flock into a thermal, you’ll find the combination of their flight style and overall shape to be unique and diagnostic. Indeed, a Mississippi Kite is a lot easier to identify than it is to document. Even more unfortunate is that most of these birds were probably correctly identified. Unfortunately, there have been just as many reports of this species with little or no documentation which MOURC has been unable to accept.
There are now several acceptable sight records in Minnesota between April and September, and it can show up almost anywhere in the state. The Mississippi Kite has been steadily spreading its breeding range north during the past several years, and a few now apparently nest in Iowa on a regular basis. It would then be an annually occurring species considered by some ornithologists to be “nonexistent” in Minnesota. And at the rate it’s showing up in Minnesota, don’t be surprised if this kite is promoted to Regular status within a few years. But note that some records committees exclude species from a state’s official checklist unless accompanied by the tangible evidence of a photograph or specimen. After all, does it matter if a camera-shy vagrant like a Mississippi Kite is classified as a Casual or Accidental species? Maybe not. Now, perhaps this point of ornithological trivia might strike you as just, well, trivial. While there were photos taken of individuals seen in flight on two occasions in recent years, the records committee (MOURC) considered the images too small to be recognizable as Mississippi Kites. But by definition, Casual species occur at least a few times each decade in the state - often enough, it would seem, for pictures to be taken of all of them at some point. Yes, there are several Accidental birds on our checklist yet to be represented with a photo or specimen: e.g., Violet-green Swallow, Painted Redstart, and others. It seems there is still no recognizable photograph (or specimen) of this bird taken in the state, and it’s the only Casual Minnesota species holding this dubious distinction. The Mississippi Kite holds a unique place on the checklist of Minnesota’s 427 species of birds. BIRDING BY HINDSIGHT: A Second Look at Mississippi Kite
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