The plot thickens... Back in early June, a Mississippi Kite was reported at the Brass Ring Golf Course in Hocking County. Then, two birds. These first reports of multiple birds were somewhat enigmatic, although I eventually got the original discoverer, Rick Perkins, on the phone and he confirmed seeing two birds together early on.
Then, for a good month and a half, one bird was widely seen by nearly all who ventured to see it, but reports of the second bird were virtually non-existent and unconfirmed. During that period, I spoke with golf course personnel who are on the course for hours daily, and often at or near the spots that the kite frequented. They reported only seeing one bird, at least that they could be sure of, and by this time these folks were intimately familiar with Mississippi Kites.
In the past week or so, the second bird surfaced. I got a call from the course superintendent, excitedly reporting both birds together in the favored tree. A number of birders who have recently visited have also seen the two together.
So, what does this mean? That someone needs to find the nest, perhaps! It sounds as if an active nest may be nearby, and one of the adults was tied up with incubation while the other was out hunting and being observed. If they did nest, it must have been within the golf course, as there is good habitat there and thats where the kites seemed to spend the vast majority of their time.
Fortunately, the folks at the golf course have become quite interested in these birds, know what to look for, and should clue us in if they see nest/young.
For now, enjoy these wonderful photos taken by Michael Packer on a recent visit:
Kite in flight, by Michael Packer. You can see why some of the golf course workers initially thought it might be a Bald Eagle, albeit a tiny one :-)
Note the considerably shortened leading primary flight feather. Graceful and acrobatic in flight, Mississippi Kites often pick off flying dragonflies. Anyone who has tried to net big dragons knows how challenging that can be.
Cute little rascals, aren't they? You wouldn't be saying that if you were a white-footed mouse and this Northern Saw-whet Owl was hot on your heels!
Crows like to heckle Great Horned Owls, just like some ruffians like to heckle speakers. I am hopeful there will be no crows in the audience.
I'll try to be on my A-game for this owl talk - I definitely don't want this sort of reaction!.JPG)
It don't get no better than this, if you're a dragon-seeker. Several of us were on our bellies photographing a very cooperative Orange Bluet, Enallgma signatum, when this Violet Dancer, Argia fumipennis subsp. violacea, decided to use Marlo Perdica's hand as a perch. Of course, the rest of us demanded that she freeze, so we could document the moment. The Violet Dancer was a beaut, too - nice purple male - but a bit hard for Marlo herself to photograph....JPG)
A quarter-sized beauty, the habits of the Harvester are bizarre by butterfly standards. The larvae eat at least four genera of woolly aphids, which often form conspicuous clusters on host trees. Around here, American beech, Fagus grandifolia, and any of several species of alder, Alnus sp., are good host plants for suitable aphids. Some authorities believe that Harvesters are probably a lot more common than thought, but their populations tend to be highly localized and the tiny adults can be easily missed as they don't come to flowers for nectar.
A swarm of woolly aphids on a beech tree. You've probably seen these before; the colonies are bizarre-looking and conspicuous. And where you want to seek the odd, light brown Harvester caterpillars, their long setae (hairs) often gunked up with whitish secretions from the aphids. The caterpillars live right amongst the aphids, casually munching them as the mood strikes. The adult butterflies often hang close to the aphids, too, as they shun plant nectar for the apparently tastier "honeydew" secreted by the aphids..JPG)
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Dennis Paulson, above, holding a remarkably tame Rusty Snaketail, Ophiogomphus rupinsulensis. These clubtails are rather local, and we were finding them near the Mohican River, but up in the grass and shrubs a bit away from the stream..JPG)
Here's a female Rusty Snaketail, teed up on the old flower head of White Clover, Trifolium repens. They will allow for very close approach and are amazingly tolerant of us great unwashed masses looming closely in to admire and photograph..JPG)
The mob of paparazzi surrounds the exceptionally tolerant snaketail. Many hundreds of photos were snapped of this one..JPG)
We ventured mostly to Funk and Killbuck wildlife areas, and the Mohican River, on our field trips. While we had decent diversity, the big darners were notably lacking. However, we saw a number of the big Green Darners, Anax junius, like the bruiser above. This species can be highly migratory and sometimes swarms of hundreds or even thousands are seen in late summer/fall heading south..JPG)
Violent insects, if you hold a dragonfly by its feet you'll be assured of getting nipped. This Green Darner is chewing on Larry Rosche's hand. Luckily for us, even the big ones don't hurt; they just create a funny nibbling sensation. Such would not have been true some 250 million years back during the Carboniferous Period, when Canda Goose-sized dragonflies ruled the skies..JPG)
Jen Brumfield, one of our guides, is absolutely amazing with a net. She made a number of incredible catches, including this Prince Baskettail, Epitheca princeps. A beautiful member of the Emerald Family, Princes are typically seen on the wing hunting insects well above the ground and often out of reach. Getting to see one up close and in the hand was a treat..JPG)
We were indeed fortunate to see this Orange Bluet, Enallagma signatum, out and about in the heat of the day. Unlike the previous species, this is just a tiny little guy. Like many of the orange-colored damsels, Orange Bluets tend to emerge and become active towrds the end of the day and even past dusk..JPG)
Everyone was ecstatic about seeing this one up close, thanks once again to the wonderful netting abilities of Ms. Brumfield. It is a Swift River Cruiser, Macromia illinoiensis subsp. illinoiensis. River cruisers typically fly fast over the waters of streams, and can be very hard to catch. Like B-1 bombers, they come in low and fast, exposing brilliant green eyes if the light is one them, and blur past just outside of net reach..JPG)
This may be the world's most heavily photographed Swift River Cruiser. Once we were through handling him, we put him on this stick - this is how river cruisers perch, vertically - and he stayed there for maybe half an hour before departing. In that time, probably several hundred photos wre taken by many folks. Here, you can see the bright yellow spot towards the end of the abdomen, on segment 7. That shows up well on flying individuals and is a good field mark.