The Mississippi kite (_Ictinia mississippiensis_) is one of the common
raptors of Kansas, occurring regularly and abundantly in summer in
that part of the state south of the Arkansas River. In 1961, in an
attempt to find out more about the ecology of the species in Kansas, I
made several trips to parts of the state where kites could be found in
numbers, notably to Meade County State Park in the southwestern part
of the state, 71/2 miles south and five miles west of Meade. Little has
been written regarding the species in this extreme northwestern part
of its breeding range, where it thrives under ecological conditions
much different from those that prevail elsewhere in its range. Also,
the social behavior and food habits have been given relatively little
attention.
In my field study I was helped by my son, John H. Fitch, who climbed
to many kite nests and spent many hours observing in the field. My
daughter, Alice V. Fitch, likewise aided me by keeping nests under
surveillance. Dr. Claude W. Hibbard of the University of Michigan and
Mr. Harry Smith, superintendent of Meade State Park, also kindly
provided much useful information concerning the history of the colony
of Mississippi kites at the Park. Mr. William N. Berg analyzed
pellets, and Dr. George W. Byers kindly checked many of the
identifications, and provided generic and specific determinations for
some of the insects.
In general, the range, habits and ecology of the Mississippi kite are
already well known through the publications of Audubon (1840), Chapman
(1891), Bendire (1892), Ganier (1902), Wayne (1910), Nice (1931), Bent
(1936), Sutton (1939) and Eisenmann (1963). The breeding range is the
southeastern United States, chiefly within the Austroriparian
Life-zone, but extending northwest through much of Oklahoma and into
southern Kansas. The species is highly migratory. Wintering
Mississippi kites are known from Argentina and Paraguay (Eisenmann,
_op. cit._:74), and most of the population probably winters in
southern South America, but records outside the breeding range are
few.
The Mississippi kite is perhaps one of the most social raptors. It is
highly gregarious, not only in its migrations but in breeding
colonies. All breeding pairs seen were closely associated with other
individuals, with no territorial hostility; signs of intraspecific
intolerance are rare, even where the kites are abundant. In the
nesting season many of both sexes perch together in the same tree, and
groups tend to keep together as they forage.
Secondary sexual differences are slight. Seven males in the University
of Kansas Museum of Natural History collection average 351 (342 to
360) millimeters in length, and six females average 361 (348 to 370)
millimeters. Sutton (_op. cit._:44) collected 16 breeding kites near
Arnett, Oklahoma in 1936 and 1937 and recorded that eleven males
averaged 245 (216 to 269) grams and five females averaged 311 (278 to
339) grams. As indicated by Sutton, the head is paler in the adult
male than in the female, and at close range this difference will serve
for identification of the sexes. The difference in size is scarcely
noticeable in the field.