A Morning with Mississippi Kites
By Dan Weisz All photos by Dan Weisz There is an area of Cochise County where you can see a very special bird in spring and summer that is uncommon in Arizona: the beautiful Mississippi Kite. So what is a bird called a “Mississippi Kite” doing in southern Arizona? A look at the range map below shows an interesting breeding area for this species. During our winters, all Mississippi Kites spend their time in subtropical South America, mostly Argentina and Brazil. During breeding season, they make their way to their breeding grounds in America noted by the color orange on the map. Besides the solid orange breeding area, there are many scattered orange “spots” where Mississippi Kites have established generations of breeding populations, including in Arizona. Mississippi Kites were first named and described by a European ornithologist in 1811 after observing the species in what was then called the Mississippi Territory. The species wasn’t recorded in Arizona until 1970. Although they can oc...
