[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f you see formations of pointed-winged birds sailing overhead, they may well be Mississippi kites, heading for their summer home in the Texas Panhandle.
This streamlined, falcon-shaped hawk has a wingspan of about three feet and is dark gray above and a paler gray below. It has a long black tail and a whitish head. Immature birds are heavily streaked and spotted.
Mississippi kites sail along effortlessly on hot-air thermals, occasionally swooping to catch an insect on the wing. They will also eat small rodents.
These birds nest across the southeastern United States including the Texas Panhandle and northern counties. I had my best sighting at a municipal park in Childress, where the kite sat atop a tall tree.
Bulky and flat, kite nests are built of twigs and lined with leaves to hold the two or three whitish eggs a pair will produce. Young birds require about a month from hatching before being able to fly. But once they fly, these graceful birds are masters of the air, using their tail as a rudder as they drift with the wind on motionless wings.
Keep an eye out and if you see a swirl of hawks overhead, not unlike a small tornado, you might be seeing a kettle of kites.
