8/1/10 – WHITE-TAILED KITE

I’ll be brief in my excitement to get this up. This morning I was sitting at home enjoying a beautiful Sunday morning. I went over to check my email and saw that a WHITE-TAILED KITE had been reported in Stratford by Dennis Varza. Once I got email confirmation from Scott Kruitbosch and Charlie Barnard, I was on my way. When we arrived at Stratford Point, I joined Charlie, Scott and Matt in viewing the beautiful likely second-year possible 1st state record, White-tailed Kite. Soon many more birders began arriving and together we watched and enjoyed the bird. At times it would fly off its favorite perch (a small tree) and start hover hunting around the fields. At one point it flew over our heads and around giving excellent looks and photo ops.

Many of these shots were taken when the bird made its one fly over. The others were digiscoped from long range. Photos below:

Flying By

Note the black wing patches, long pointed wings and white tail

partially dark underwings

Downward Flap; Note the black ends of the wings

Hunting (digiscoped)

Sitting on its favorite perch

There was also an American Kestrel and Osprey present for comparison.

American Kestrel

Birders enjoying the Kite

It was a fantastic bird and spending time with other birders plus getting to show it to my mom and sisters was a treat!

-Alex