[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Scissor- & Swallow-taileds



Hello All,

	I'm a birder from Mass. and have been doing a little birding 
while visiting my brother's place near Charlotte.  

	In Monroe this afternoon (8/24), thanks to some good directions 
from the June RBA, I found the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher spot but the 
"Flycatchers" sign was gone.  Thinking that the birds were probably gone 
too, I turned around at the dead end and drove out slowly.  I heard some 
strange calls coming from the south and then saw 2 SCISSOR-TAILED 
FLYCATCHERS at the back of an open, grassy field.  One appeared to be an 
immature (shorter scissors) and the other an adult.  As I stood there 
enjoying them, a raptor appeared near the powerlines in the distance.  At 
first, I thought that it might be a Peregrine but the flight was very 
un-falconlike.  It soared, glided around and lingered in the area. 
Overall, the lighting was very poor and the bird appeared all dark.  For 
a brief moment, I caught a darker terminal band on the underside of the 
tail.  I then saw that this bird appeared to be eating something in 
midair.  I've seen Merlins do this but this was certainly not a Merlin.  
That behavior helped to reassure me that I was looking at a MISSISSIPPI 
KITE.  Later, I saw 3 birds, all apparently this species, but those looks 
were very distant and I'm not as confident as I am with the first one. 

	Shortly after I saw the first Mississippi Kite, a bird appeared low and 
close and I thought I was going to get my first nice looks at that 
species.  I was pretty shocked (and a little disappointed) to see that it 
was a SWALLOW-TAILED KITE, since I've seen plenty of those in FL.  The 
sky here was also filled with at least 100 CHIMNEY SWIFTS, a few PURPLE 
MARTINS and some other very high swallows.  A few RED-TAILEDS, ~15 TURKEY 
VULTURES and 1 BLACK VULTURE were seen during my attempts to relocate the 
Kites.  
	
	Very early this morning, I made the 2 hour Drive to Sandhills NWR and had 
my life BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH, CHUCK WILL'S WIDOW and, of course 
RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER (although the last was harder than I expected).  
I saw an "extended" family group of 5-7 birds with at least one 
red-capped Juvenile who seemed to be doing a little foraging on its own.  
Throughout the day, I had lots of RED-HEADED a few RED-BELLIED, 2 DOWNY 
and 3 PILEATED WOODPECKERS.  At Mays Lake (mostly drained), I saw at 
least 6 GREAT EGRETS, 2 BALD EAGLES, ~10 KILLDEER, a few FISH and 
AMERICAN CROWS.


Sincerely,
Matt Williams
Sunderland, MA (currently Troutman, NC)