Jun 09, 2023

Mississippi kites make annual return to Great Bend, other cities

Posted Jun 09, 2023 6:00 PM

By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post

Alfred Hitchcock, in 1963, horrified the masses with "The Birds," a film about unexplained, violent bird attacks over the course of a few days in California. While sparrows and crows are not so fear-inducing around Barton County, one bird does raise the hackles for many each summer. Kansas Wetlands Education Center Director Curtis Wolf said Mississippi kites, a small raptor, are back in cities like Great Bend.

"The problem with Mississippi kites people have is that they get very territorial when they have nests," he said. "Usually, about mid-summer, they're sitting on nests and this is the time we'll get calls, "I've got this bird that's dive-bombing me.'"

The kites barely go further north than central Kansas, but southcentral Kansas, western Oklahoma, and northern Texas are breeding grounds for the birds that grow 12-15 inches from tail to beak, and have an average wingspan of about three feet. Their tendency to use trees around homes and golf courses while nesting can lead to more interactions with humans. Feeding off insects, the birds can also be a spectacle of nature.

"They're a neat bird," Wolf said. "They love to feed off the big cicadas. Watching them hunt, they are incredible aerialists. When they're on the prowl for those things, they're really fun to watch."

After rearing their chicks, the kites follow the Atlantic coastline through Texas and Central America before spending the winter in central South America.

Experts say diving at pedestrians increases as incubation in nests progresses, but the aggressive behavior is found at only about 20 percent of nesting sites. Only a small percentage of dives - three percent in a study at one golf course - resulted in actual contact. The birds are fully protected under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which offers protection to the birds and their nests. Experts suggest avoiding nesting areas when possible, or waving their arms to minimize attacks from the diving birds.