Birds of Central Oklahoma

All birds Hawks, Eagles, and Kites

Mississippi Kite, adult
Adult Photo by Laura Clark. CC BY, via iNaturalist.

Mississippi Kite

Ictinia mississippiensis

Here May to September.

Recorded by Thomas McDaniel. CC BY-NC, via iNaturalist, trimmed and volume evened out.

Look for

  1. A gray body with a pale, almost white head.
  2. A black tail and red eyes.
  3. Long, pointed wings. It glides and turns in the sky with hardly a flap.

A little about it

Kites spend the summer here. They nest high in big trees, often right in town.

They hunt big bugs in the air, like cicadas, dragonflies, and grasshoppers. A kite grabs a bug with its feet and eats it while it flies.

In late summer, kites gather in groups. Then they fly all the way to South America for the winter. That's a trip of thousands of miles.

If kites have a nest close by, they may swoop down at people who walk too near. If that happens, take a different path for a few weeks. The young kites leave the nest when they are about 5 weeks old. Kites are protected by law, so never bother a nest.

Fun fact

A kite often eats its lunch in midair. It holds a bug in one foot, bends its head down, and takes bites while it glides.

When it's here

Taller bars mean more sightings. Most often seen in August.

How big

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About 14 inches, with wings 3 feet across. A little smaller than a crow, with long, pointed wings.

Where to look

Tall trees in neighborhoods, parks, and golf courses, and the open sky above them. On summer afternoons, look up.

  • Flying overhead
  • Yards and parks
  • In the woods

People have spotted it at Lake Stanley Draper, Arcadia Lake, Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge.

Could it be something else?

  • Peregrine Falcon

    Also gray with pointed wings, but it has a dark hood on its head and fine bars on its belly. It flies with fast, strong wingbeats. A kite has a pale head and floats more.

  • Young Mississippi Kite

    In their first summer, young kites are brown with streaks on the chest and stripes on the tail. They still have the kite shape.

More photos

Mississippi Kite, young kite in its first summer
Young kite in its first summer Photo by Laura Mae. CC BY, via iNaturalist.

Where these facts come from