Why Mississippi Kites Are Amazing!

It's been awhile since I've done an installation of "Why ___s Are Amazing", and I apologize for my tardiness.   Perhaps it's because most of the birds at the RMRP right now are American Kestrels, and I've already covered that species?  Whatever the reason, I decided to make it up to you by covering a bird that's really unique: Mississippi Kites.  Okay, so they're not actually that unique.  They're actually quite common birds--just not around here, which is what makes them "unique" to us.

So, the funny thing about this article is that I knew nothing about Mississippi Kites before writing it, so in order to find all the information I wanted to tell you, I (GHOW) interviewed a Mississippi Kite (MIKI) here at the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program.  This bird is currently healing an injured wing.  Here's what I got!

The interviewee

GHOW:  Thank you for joining me today.  How is your wing feeling?
MIKI:  Squeak-choooo!


GHOW:  Oh no, do you have a cold as well?
MIKI:  Squeak-chooo!!


GHOW:  Well, that's terrible luck, isn't it?
MIKI:  Squeak--no cold--chooooo!


GHOW:  What?! Oh! You're not sneezing, that's just how you talk!
MIKI:  Squeak--That's right!--choooo!


GHOW:  Okay, I'm getting the hang of it.  You know, that's funny, you sound just like a squeaky toy!
MIKI:  Har. Har. Har.  Like I've never heard that before. Squeak-choo!!

oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com

GHOW:  Right. I can see we started off on the wrong wing, so let's try again.  How is your injury?
MIKI: Better, thank you, but I still have a ways to go.  Squeak-choo!


GHOW:  Glad to hear it's improving.  So, where are you from?
MIKI:  Well, I'm from Mead, but I have a lot of relatives in Sterling and in Pueblo.  But most of my species live further east, in the Midwestern plains and down south.

GHOW:  I see, so that's why I've only met a handful of Kites?
MIKI:  Yep, that's right!  We're kind of new to the area.

GHOW: Well, welcome!  Glad to have you! It sounds like you're pretty social birds?
MIKI:  Absolutely!  We live in communal roosts, like Turkey Vultures.  So wherever you see one Mississippi Kite, you're likely to find more.  Squeak-chooo!


GHOW:  Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I overhead another bird say that you only eat insects?? 

watchingthesunbake.blogspot.co

MIKI:  Squeak-chooo!!!!  That's mostly right.  I loooove grasshoppers and dragonflies, but the smaller bugs are good, too.  Occasionally I'll nab a small mouse, or maybe a lizard, but bugs are my meal of choice.

GHOW:  Blech, you can have them.  I'll take a tasty rabbit any day.  Of course, you might not be big enough to take down a rabbit.  How big are you?
MIKI:  Last time the Humans weighed me I was 250g, so about twice the size of a Kestrel.  However, some of us are a little smaller, and some are a bit bigger, about three times the size of a Kestrel.  But even though I'm bigger than a Kestrel, check out my feet:  they're pretty small, right?  So I don't think I'll be hunting rabbits anytime soon.

GHOW:   How do you hunt bugs, anyways?
MIKI:   On the wing, like a swallow, but instead of catching bugs in my mouth, I catch them with my feet, and that makes me a Raptor!  Squeak-chooo! 

GHOW:   Fascinating.  So tell me a little more about your lifestyle, like where you like to build your nest, and stuff like that.
MIKI:   We build our nests in trees, so we always live near woodland.  Out here in the plains we try to find a little riparian forest to call home--after all, water is important for the bugs we hunt.  We make our nests out of twigs, and I must say, they're pretty good by Raptor standards.  The lady-Kites usually lay two eggs per year, and the young are out of the nest nice a quick: one month in the egg, one month in the nest, then fledged and gone.



GHOW:   Do you make a migration?
MIKI:   Yes, most of our populations do. We fly to tropical South America in the winter!

GHOW:  By the way, I just wanted to comment on how beautiful your eyes are.  Most Raptors have dark eyes, or yellow eyes, but yours are bright red!
MIKI:   Cool, huh?  The immature Mississippi Kites don't have red eyes--they're brown.  In fact, immature Kites are streak-brown all over, with none of this striking grey-and-black motif of the adults.

Immature MIKI  (avianweb.com)

GHOW:   This has all been very educational for me--especially learning a new language!  I only have one more question for you:  what makes Mississippi Kites awesome?
MIKI:   I can't name just one thing!  How about three?  1) Our aerial acrobatics when we're catching bugs on the wing,  2) Our appearance (a lot of Humans think we look a bit like Owls, and most Humans don't even recognize us as Raptors), and 3) Our unique call!  Squeak-choo!! 



Well, folks, there you have it!  Now you know a little bit about Mississippi Kites.   Until next time, squeak-choo! 

Interview with an Educational Ambassador Red-Tailed Hawk

This past weekend, a friend of mine went to his first outdoor exhibit here in Fort Collins.  He's a Red-Tailed hawk who came to the RMRP in 2010 with multiple fractures in one wing. The wing didn't heal correctly, so, like many of us educational ambassadors for the RMRP, he can't fly well enough to be released. But he did have the right personality to become an educational bird, and he progressed through his training well, and over the past few months he went out to numerous small educational programs, like hour-long programs at libraries and schools. Saturday's exhibit was a much bigger accomplishment for him because exhibits are long, outdoors, and full of all sorts of colors, sounds, sights and people.  Seeing as I'm an old hand at the exhibit thing (not much surprises me anymore when I'm out in public), I figured I'd interview the new kid and see what he thought of the whole thing!

Great Horned Owl (GHOW): How did the day begin?
Red-Tailed Hawk (RTHA): It started very normally, except that my handler was talking to me more than usual, using soft, encouraging tones to tell me I would "do great today". Well, of course I'd do great--I'm a Red-Tailed Hawk, I'm great at everything. I didn't realize then how much I was going to see that day! It started by being jessed in the cage, then weighed on the scale, then getting into my travel box like I was going to a program. The car ride was pretty short, although I don't really care how long car rides are when I'm in my travel box--it's so calm and quiet in there. And when I came out of my box, I was smack dab in the middle of town! Surprise!


GHOW: What was your first impression of the exhibit?
RTHA: There was so much going on! Cars and people and tents and trees...I had a hard time keeping an eye on all of it all the time, but I tried my best. I just looked and watched and took stock of the whole world around me, and pretty soon it became more understandable and less scary. Nothing bad happened to me, of course--the Humans would never let that happen! But there was a lot to take in.

GHOW: Describe the place you were perched.
RTHA: I was standing on a low perch, just about one wing-length off the ground, and my leash was attached to the perch (I tested the leash out right away, and found it was two wing-lengths long, and that I could easily fly to the end of it, stand in the grass for a second, then jump back up to the perch, no problem). Above me and behind me was a white tent, so I was in the shade all day. Around the three open sides of the tent was a thin red rope. I think the red rope holds great power over the Humans because no one crossed it except my Humans from the RMRP. Beyond the tent was a large grassy area, lots more tents, and a lot of people. To one side there was a road and a sidewalk.


GHOW:  I'm sure you learned a lot throughout the day, so let's break it all down individually: what did you learn about vehicles?
RTHA:  There are a lot of different kinds and they make a lot of different sounds! There were regular-sized ones that the Humans called "cars", but some of them made really loud noises that rumbled and roared like a thunder storm, and others made loud but whiny noises that were very surprising. And they all moved so fast! No wonder we birds have a hard time with cars. There were smaller two-wheeled things that the Humans called "motorcycles", and a lot of those were even louder than the cars. Then there was a train, like the one that passes by the RMRP, but this one as closer and much louder. Oh, and then there were "bicycles", which are kind of like motorcycles, but much quieter. The bicycles came really close to me sometimes, but they never tried to hurt me. I stopped noticing all the vehicles after awhile because I learned they weren't going to hurt me while I was with my Humans.


GHOW: What did you learn about dogs?
RTHA: There are lots of different sizes of dogs, too! All of them were attached to Humans by leashes, kind of like mine but longer and thicker. Some Humans kept their dogs really close, and other Humans had to be asked to reel in their dogs so they wouldn't come over and scare me. At first the dogs were scary, but when I realized that my Humans were making sure none of them could get near me, I relaxed and started noticing how funny looking they are! Some had spots, some had stripes, some were huge and others small, some were really excited to see me, others didn't care about me, and others were so oblivious they never knew I was there. Silly dogs.


GHOW: What did you learn about children?
RTHA: Children, also called "kids" and "Hey!", are highly revered by Humans. They're escorted around in colorful wheeled objects called "strollers", and the big Humans push the kids around in these all day. And whenever a kid wants to do something, the big Humans help the kid do it. I also learned that kids are very noisy. But even though the kids were noisy, they were also really interested in me and asked the Humans lots of good questions about how cool I am. Some of them were small enough to walk right under the red rope, but even they stayed on the far side of it! My favorite kids were the ones who sat down in the grass by the rope and spent a lot of time talking to the Humans about me. I think kids are okay!


GHOW: What did you learn about noise?
RTHA: I think I learned that Humans really like noise. I prefer quiet so I can hear bird sounds and listen for mice in the grass, but Humans prefer constant music and lots of talking. Once I got used the constant noise, it didn't bother me much.


GHOW: What questions did people most often ask?
RTHA: Everyone asked what kind of bird I was, and a lot of people asked if I was an Eagle, which made me laugh inside. Wouldn't the Golden Eagle get a kick out of that question? After that, most people wanted to know how I hurt my wing. Then there were a lot of different questions, like how can I turn my head so far? When does my tail turn red? How old am I? What so I like to eat? Those questions were great. I think my favorite question is when the Humans ask "How much does he weigh?" and my Humans ask back, "How much do you think he weighs?"  The Humans on the other side of the rope almost always say something like "Twenty pounds", and when my Humans say, "Nope, two and a half!" I like to watch the surprised reactions. Gets them every time!


GHOW: What was your favorite part of the exhibit?
RTHA: It was really fun getting out there and seeing all those different things! Humans have such odd habits. I was tired when I went home, but next time will be even easier, and I'm really looking forward to it!

So there you go, straight from the beak of a new educational bird! Hope to see you at our next exhibit!