Perhaps it’s due to the unusually warm weather this year across the country, but many southern bird species have found their way north to Wisconsin. I’m grateful for their visits; it saves me a series of weekend trips! At the same time, however, their presence should be an indication of how these birds may be escaping oppressive heat waves, droughts, and food shortages in other parts of the country as climate change charges on unabated. I can’t cite specific research, but that’s the impression I’ve inferred from vagrants.
The most noticeable of these vagrants have been the kites, elegant raptors that rarely come this far north. So far this year, we have had three species:
White-winged Kite (WWKI, Elanus leucurus)
Swallow-tailed Kite (STKI, Elanoides forficatus)
Mississippi Kite (MIKI, Ictinia mississippiensis)
For reference, according to Peterson, Sibley, and other North American field guides, there are five species of kites seen regularly in the contiguous USA. Not bad for Wisconsin batting 0.600 this year for kites!
The first of these to show up this year was a lone WTKI in Door County. As will all rarities and potential lifers, this kite had to show up while I was on my inpatient consult rotations! Every day, I would check the eBird alerts to monitor its location. It would stay put for days on end, then disappear, only to re-appear farther north. Lucky me…
Finally, after my work quieted down, I ventured north on July 16th, 2023, to Potawatomi State Park to search for the WTKI. According to a checklist from the day before, it was sighted in a wide agricultural field across from the park’s front entrance. I arrived in the middle of the afternoon, and after a quick scan of said field without luck, I went to the park to walk around the trails for a bit. Though I had ventured to look for the kite, I wasn’t going to let a miss distract me from enjoying the natural beauty of Wisconsin. Targets in birding serve a unique purpose in seeing new species of birds, but it should not be the only reason to get out. I’ve learned that the hard way.
Leaving the park, I drove over to the intersection by the field, and a second attempt proved fruitful. There it was, sitting in a leafless tree on the other side of the field! While too far for decent photos on my Canon, the kite showed up perfectly in my Kowa scope: Noticeable were its medium-sized stature, the slender build of the raptor, white head and belly, black scapulars and wings, and gray nape and back. Of course, the tail was white.
The kite took off twice, and at one point hunted in the field closest to me. It soared, hovered with powerful wing beats, then plummeted straight down on prey, which was most likely a vole. Flying off to the northwest, it was harassed by a Cooper’s Hawk and dropped it prize. So much for Wisconsin politeness.
July 27th, 2023
A post-work drive trip to Janesville produced no MIKI, but I did see three Indigo Buntings and two recently fledged Cooper’s Hawks within mere feet of me. One of these youngsters is shown here.
Here’s to the next venture!