Birds of prey
Mississippi Kites are raptors who swoop down on South Carolina fields to feast on insects and small animals.
Illustration by Jimmy Cao
A family member has a farm on the Broad River in York County. At the house near a river bottom, I love to sit on the porch and listen to the call of Bobwhite Quail. You can take a heck of a nap on that porch, so it’s no wonder that Bobwhites are my favorite birds.
However, I’ve recently become interested in a very different bird—the Mississippi Kite. Instead of a hauntingly attractive call, kites provide a beautiful dance to watch. These raptors swoop over South Carolina’s fields and swamps, feasting on insects and small vertebrates. Like their namesake, the birds exhibit a buoyant and acrobatic flight, accentuated by sudden, downward dips. That’s when they charge toward a dragonfly or pluck a lizard from the ground before returning high above the pasture in their search for more protein.
Enhancing this experience is the physical beauty of the creature. Their sleek frame is colored with a mixture of pearl gray, black and white feathers. By looking through binoculars, you can see their red eyes contrasting with black feathering near their beak. Jay Keck, the habitat education manager for the South Carolina Wildlife Federation, says Mississippi Kites remind him of another entertaining spectacle.
“The black around the red eyes looks like they have eyeshadow,” says Keck. “They make me think about the rock band KISS with all the crazy makeup they wear.”
In July, some friends and I joined Keck on a small expedition just south of the Allendale. We met him and filmmaker Zach Steinhauser, who recently released a documentary about the Purple Martins that descend upon Lake Murray each summer. The fields surrounding Allendale serve as fertile hunting ground for Mississippi Kites and Swallow-tailed Kites, a larger cousin with a bright, white underbelly and black wings.
South Carolina and points all around the southern United States have become the spring and summer home for kites. Not only is there plenty for them to eat, but our abundant woodlands are where they like to nest. Having spent the winter in South America, the kites arrive in South Carolina in April to breed and feed.
By September, with full stomachs, they depart. Many travel through Florida and island-hop across the Caribbean, while others take a more terrestrial route through Mexico until they find required amenities below the equator.
Bird enthusiasts typically venture to Allendale County in the summer months. If fortunate, they see flocks that reach triple-digits in number. We arrived at a spot along Revolutionary Trail and were immediately treated to the dancing of about a dozen kites, both Mississippi and Swallow-tailed. As they glided across a blue sky and pounced upon their prey, a cluster of Cattle Egrets flew just above the same field. Standing there on the shoulder of a rural road in co-op country, I was reminded of a scene from the classic film Out of Africa.
Keck’s enthusiasm for winged creatures is contagious. His passion began the first time he saw a Baltimore Oriole—another bird whose coloring might be suitable for a KISS cover band. He was awestruck and dove into a wormhole of research. By the time he came out, he was teaching classes for the South Carolina Wildlife Federation.
I believe that nature connects all of us. Keck has a similar philosophy.
“I think birds connect us to our planet better than any other wildlife,” he says. “I watch people watch birds and catch their expressions. It gives me chills. In that moment, there are no stresses, nothing else matters.”
Reducing stress isn’t the only benefit of building a relationship with wildlife. Having those kinds of moments with nature helps us to truly see what is around us.
Whether it’s with birds or other wildlife, I wish for you many moments with nature. May they heal us, connect us—and provide the occasional good nap.
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Related story
See our exclusive video and photo gallery from wildlife photographer Zach Steinhauser at SCLiving.coop/kites.