• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Mississippi Kite in SE Minnesota? (1 Viewer)

M

Mississippi Valley Girl

New member
Just spotted the loveliest bird and after much research, it appears to be a Mississippi Kite. Although, it doesn't sound like this bird would be around these parts this time of the year. Also, it was snatching voles out of the snow and I read that these birds eat insects. The bird was about 12", with a white head, slate blue body and black tail feathers,somewhat long. It looked like it had a black mask on its eyes, though the photos I have looked at since the sighting do not show any eye mask. I have lived here 13 years and have never seen this bird. Any ideas?
 
Hi and welcome to the forum.

Your bird sounds to me like a Northern Shrike.

Take a look at it here (Great Grey Shrike is the European name for the bird).

Mike
 
I spotted a few months back a Swallow-Tailed Kite here in NJ. This bird was out of its range and I reported the sighting on ebird.org. If you are not already on ebird I suggest registering and reporting the sighting. For uncommon birds in your area a birder from the site will contact you and ask for more detail. It's good 'citizen science' to report on ebird to help Ornithologists get avifauna distribution data to aid in research. That's a cool sighting !
 
Last edited:
shrike vs kite...these look like two very different birds based on shape, size ,wing span/wing shape, so it's hard to tell what you saw without a photo or more detail. They are both predator birds so eating the vole sounds characteristic of both.
But, the Mississippi Kite seems way out of range here, so it most likely is not this bird (?)
 
Sightings of Mississippi Kite in Minnesota are are generally between June and September. In the winter months Mississippi Kites don't travel much farther north than Arkansas.

There is a map showing sightings of Northern Shrike in your area here. Orange markers are recent sightings.

Mike
 
The other bird that is even remotely possible (more based on behavior than anything else) would be hawk owl

Niels
 
jmepler said:
Sightings of Mississippi Kite in Minnesota are are generally between June and September. In the winter months Mississippi Kites don't travel much farther north than Arkansas.

There is a map showing sightings of Northern Shrike in your area here. Orange markers are recent sightings.

Mike
Click to expand...

Actually Mississippi Kites are unknown in the US and North America in the winter. The entire population winters in south central South America. I don't think there are any documented North American records from mid-winter. And, they are graceful hawkers of dragonflies and flying insects from the canopy and above; I can't imagine them plunging into snow for voles! I would guess Northern Shrike as well.

Andy
 
I agree this is almost certainly a Northern Shrike.

As to Mississippi Kites in the U.S. in the winter, there are a few odd records on Christmas Bird Counts. The CBC website shows 8 records in the last 20 years in the southeast (SC, etc.). But those could be as early as mid-December.
 
Thanks everyone. Northern Shrike it must be, though the photos I just looked at don't do it justice. I can't believe I have lived here for 14 years and have never spotted one of these beauties. I have my camera ready in case it comes back today. Cool forum! Glad I found this community.
 
Mississippi Valley Girl said:
Thanks everyone. Northern Shrike it must be, though the photos I just looked at don't do it justice. I can't believe I have lived here for 14 years and have never spotted one of these beauties. I have my camera ready in case it comes back today. Cool forum! Glad I found this community.
Click to expand...

Welcome. Northern Shrikes are uncommon birds. Whenever birders anywhere in the upper midwest see them, they end up on the ABA bird reports. They aren't super rare, but always a good find. That's why you haven't seen one before.
 
Mississippi Valley Girl said:
Just spotted the loveliest bird and after much research, it appears to be a Mississippi Kite. Although, it doesn't sound like this bird would be around these parts this time of the year. Also, it was snatching voles out of the snow and I read that these birds eat insects. The bird was about 12", with a white head, slate blue body and black tail feathers,somewhat long. It looked like it had a black mask on its eyes, though the photos I have looked at since the sighting do not show any eye mask. I have lived here 13 years and have never seen this bird. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
I believe I saw a Mississippi Kite today in January - and I'm in Ottertail Co in MN. Another bird hit our window and fell to the deck. As I was looking out at it, a gray/slate blue bird with white head and black eye mask dropped in and started "eating" the other bird. It saw me, picked it up in its beak and flew away. I have no picture, but I saw it very clearly - about 8 inches away from it until it saw my head through the glass and took off. It looked exactly like the Mississippi Kite.
 
curtis21 said:
I believe I saw a Mississippi Kite today in January - and I'm in Ottertail Co in MN. Another bird hit our window and fell to the deck. As I was looking out at it, a gray/slate blue bird with white head and black eye mask dropped in and started "eating" the other bird. It saw me, picked it up in its beak and flew away. I have no picture, but I saw it very clearly - about 8 inches away from it until it saw my head through the glass and took off. It looked exactly like the Mississippi Kite.
Click to expand...
Have you checked out White-tailed Kite?
 
curtis21 said:
I believe I saw a Mississippi Kite today in January - and I'm in Ottertail Co in MN. Another bird hit our window and fell to the deck. As I was looking out at it, a gray/slate blue bird with white head and black eye mask dropped in and started "eating" the other bird. It saw me, picked it up in its beak and flew away. I have no picture, but I saw it very clearly - about 8 inches away from it until it saw my head through the glass and took off. It looked exactly like the Mississippi Kite.
Click to expand...
I would wager that the bird you saw was a Northern Shrike, the same thing that the person who started this thread saw.

I can't find any records of either Mississippi Kite or White-tailed Kite in Minnesota in the winter.
 
jmepler said:
I would wager that the bird you saw was a Northern Shrike, the same thing that the person who started this thread saw.

I can't find any records of either Mississippi Kite or White-tailed Kite in Minnesota in the winter.
Click to expand...
I know -- I didn't find any record of either in MN either, which definitely confused me. Maybe the Northern Shrike - but it seemed a little larger. Hopefully I can spot it again and do a better observation. Thank you for trying to help.
 
curtis21 said:
I know -- I didn't find any record of either in MN either, which definitely confused me. Maybe the Northern Shrike - but it seemed a little larger. Hopefully I can spot it again and do a better observation. Thank you for trying to help.
Click to expand...
The behaviour you describe fits a Shrike perfectly, and not at all the behaviour of a Kite so I think you can be confident that is was indeed a Northern Shrike :)
 
Not a Sharp-shinned/Coopers?

(Picking it up in the bill sounds a bit anomalous, mind - so I guess that does make it a shrike ...)
 

Similar threads

M
kites in upstate south carolina
Replies
8
Views
425
mbab
M
Aladdin
Kites in Nakhon Nayok, Thailand earlier today.
Replies
4
Views
578
Aladdin
Aladdin
T
N Greece. Birds at sea
Replies
4
Views
609
Butty
B
Aladdin
Samut Prakan, Bangkok earlier this morning
2
Replies
25
Views
876
Bertus
B
Andy Hurley
Mpulanga Province, South Africa, June 2023
Replies
3
Views
197
Valéry Schollaert
Valéry Schollaert

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top