Mississippi Kite
Ictinia mississippiensis
About This Species
Watch for a slim, buoyant raptor with pointed wings and a pale head, catching large flying insects on the wing with agile twists and turns, often over open woodland edges, river groves or even suburban neighbourhoods. Small groups can gather over towns on summer evenings when insect prey is abundant, making dusk a productive time to look. It breeds in the southern and central United States and undertakes a long migration to South America, so it is present in North America only through the warmer months.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Keep a comfortable distance from any nest tree, since this species is known to defend nests aggressively by diving at people who approach too closely, which is as much a safety consideration as a disturbance one.
- Migratory bird protections apply in the United States, but rules and enforcement differ across the Central and South American countries it passes through or winters in, so do not assume the same standard holds everywhere on its route.
- If a nest's exact protected status is unclear, the simplest precaution is to view and photograph from well outside its defensive range.
LCAvesAccipitriformesAccipitridae
Seasonal Activity
495,278 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
Photo
(c) gwood5turbo, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.