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Kites from land today



Hi folks,

I can happily add to the chorus of boatless birders scoring the Cape Fear
Swallow-tailed Kites. Drove down this morning, through blinding rainstorms
much of the way, despairing of finding anything at all, but the rain tapered
off soon after I arrived. I spent the frist hour at the lock 1 picnic table,
still in light rain, with just a single wet, bedraggled MIKI plus 3 Wild
Turkeys which flew across the river one after another. Then spent an hour or
so poking around backroads and scanning the sky downstream from a pulloff
near the NC 11 bridge to no avail, then another hour back at lock 1 which
yielded only one of the aforementioned Turkeys flying back across the river.
(Nice spot anyway, lots of Anhingas soaring about.) Finally, with the sky
threatening again, I decided to return to NC 11 and scan downstream.

Driving back down 87 toward 11, a few minutes after 1, it happened. Several
circling specks just left of the road materialized into Swallow-tailed Kites
right on the Bladen/Columbus county line, just west of Bar Pit Rd. As I got
out of the car the kites descended and I spent the next 15 minutes watching
9 (NINE!in view simultaneously) of these magnificent birds hawk for insects
over the field on the right side, across from the little cage-fronted
country store. Incredible, 10X bin filling views at eye level and from every
angle, one of the most amazing experiences I've had in 28 years of birding.
Landlubbers may just need more patience, but as Willem and Andy have
reported, it's absolutely worth a shot.

Dan Kaplan
Durham