BULLETIN OF THE -~

OKLAHOMA ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY VoL. 38 JUNE 2005 No.2

AVIAN PREY TAKEN BY MISSISSIPPI KITES IN OKLAHOMA

BERLIN A. HECK

109 Kaye Drive, Broken Bow, OK 74728 BAHeck@Pine-Net.com

Prior to the middle of the past century, there were no records of capture of avian

prey by Mississippi Kites (Ictinia mississippiensis). A. C. Bent (1937) stated " ... all

writers seem to agree that the Mississippi Kite feeds almost exclusively on larger

insects such as cicadas, locusts, grasshoppers, crickets, katydids, dragonflies, and

large beetles, but snakes, lizards, and frogs are sometimes taken." He also

stated" ... birds apparently are never molested, and small birds know no fear of it."

Sutton (1986) wrote "I found little evidence that the birds preyed on birds,

mammals, or reptiles: but in other parts of Oklahoma many small rodents, small

lizards, and such birds as Chimney Swifts are captured" (this last sentence refers to

avian prey found under a nest tree by Ports [1976]). In a study done in western

Oklahoma, Parker (1999) reported that Mississippi Kites consumed vertebrates

including reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and at least 14 species of birds.

OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY

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Fig 1. Mississippi Kite with a recently depredated House Sparrow taken 10 July 2004 in Oklahoma City. Photograph by Bill Horn.

10 Bull. Okla. Ornithol. Soc.

There are 4 published Oklahoma records for Mississippi Kites attacking

and/ or preying on birds: Waggener (1975) observed a kite striking and

knocking down a Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) in Lawton, Comanche

County; Ports (1976) reported possible predation on Chimney Swifts based on

remains of :?:2 swifts found under a kite nest in Oklahoma City; also in Lawton,

DeVilibiss (1989) watched a kite catch a Purple Martin (Progne subis) which it

carried for a few seconds, then released; and Hopkins (1995) saw a kite strike

and knock a Chimney Swift to the ground behind his Lawton residence.

Melinda Droege stated, "On 22 June 1980, I was in Enid, Garfield County,

Oklahoma watching about 10 or 12 Chimney Swifts circling overhead. A

Mississippi Kite dove into the flock, captured 1, and flew off. I did not see

where it went or if it ate the smaller bird" (2004, pers. comm.).

At 1030 h on 5 July 2003, I was sitting in my yard in Broken Bow,

McCurtain County, and heard a sound resembling wind in wings, such as is

made by a stooping bird of prey. I looked up to see a House Finch (Carpodacus

mexicanus) fluttering about 3m above the ground and 5 m from my position. I

heard the same sound again and then observed an adult Mississippi Kite dive

and capture the House Finch, making a loud "slapping" sound upon contact.

The kite then flew off with the finch, disappearing over the trees so I could not

observe whether the finch was later dropped or carried to a perch or nest

(there were 2 kite nests near my house at this time).

Prior to capture, the House Finch was flying in a manner that I have

previously observed in finches afflicted with an avian pox. This malady results

in swelling around the eyes and eventual blindness. Vision-impaired finches

usually continue to use feeders, but must fly slowly, in a manner that is

practically hovering, as they seek the feeder or a perch.

Verajean Hatfield studied nesting habits of Mississippi Kites in west Tulsa,

Tulsa County, Oklahoma from 1975 to 1986. During this time, she found a headless immature Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) in 1 nest and

remains of recently fledged Purple Martins under another nest (2004, pers.

comm.). Hatfield also stated " ... there was a graveyard of Chimney Swift

feathers beneath one nest," indicating that 1 or both adults were regularly

feeding Chimney Swift prey to the nestlings, but she gave no estimate of

number of individual swifts. She noted that most bird parts found beneath kite

nests were from immature birds, which apparently were more vulnerable.

On 14 July 2004, Patti Muzny flushed a Mississippi Kite from a large

sycamore tree (Platanus occidentalis) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County,

Oklahoma. She observed that the kite held a dark-colored bird with a notched

tail, which was calling as the kite flew off. The size, color, and calls of this prey

strongly indicated it was a Purple Martin, many of which use nest boxes in her

Vol. 38, No.2 11

yard (2004, pers. comm.).

On 2 July 2004, Forrest Brock flushed a Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) from his driveway in Anadarko, Caddo County, Oklahoma. When it was about

5 m high and 10 m from him, a Mississippi Kite flew from the top of a red maple (Acer rubrum) and captured the dove, which it held until it disappeared from his view (2004, pers comm.).

While photographing nesting Mississippi Kites in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, on 10 July 2004, Bill Horn watched a pair of kites leave the nest and return about 20 min later; one carrying a bird. He was able to photograph this kite (Fig. 1) feeding on its prey, which it did not share with its mate. Horn believes that the prey species was a House Sparrow (Passer domesticus ), and his photograph substantiates his belief.

Recent observations of kites capturing and feeding on avian prey could be due to more persons watching birds than ever before, range expansion by kites, more intensive research into kite behavior, or because, "kites today may rely somewhat more on vertebrates than in earlier times, evidently because of changed habitat conditions in the twentieth century" (Bolen and Flores 1993:66).

I thank William A. Carter, Jack D. Tyler and Verajean Hatfield for informa­tion and editorial comments which made this article possible. I thank Bill Horn for use of his photograph. I thank the referees who reviewed this manuscript.

Literature Cited

Bent, A. C. 1937 Life histories of North American birds of prey. United States National Museum Bulletin No. 167.

Bolen, E. B., and D. Flores. 1993. The Mississippi Kite. University of Texas Press, Austin

DeVilibiss, R. T. 1989. Mississippi Kite strikes Purple Martin. Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society 22:6

Hopkins, H. R. 1995. Mississippi Kite attacks Chimney Swift. Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society 28:2

Parker, J. W. 1999. Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis). In The Birds of North America, No. 402 (A Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.

Ports, M. 1976. Possible predation by Mississippi Kite on Chimney Swifts. Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society 9:14.

Sutton. G. M. 1986. Birds worth watching. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Waggener, M. 1975. Mississippi Kite strikes flying Chimney Swift. Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society 8:27.

Received 1 March 2004; accepted 13 October 2004.

12 Bull. Okla. Ornithol. Soc.

First Confirmed Breeding Record for Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus) in Texas County, Oklahoma.-The Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus), a shorebird endemic to the short-grass prairies of North America, is listed as a (1)

Category 1 Species of Special Concern by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (http: I I www.wildlifedepartment.com I endanger2.htm),

(2) species of High Overall Priority in the Pecos and Staked Plains Region (encompassing Cimarron County) by Partners in Flight (Carter et al. 2000; Panjabi 2001), and (3) Highly Imperiled Species by the United States Fish and Wildlife's U. S. Shorebird Conservation Plan (U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan 2004). It occupies the extreme eastern edge of its breeding range in the Oklahoma Panhandle (Knopf 1996). Nesting records have been confined

historically to Cimarron County (Tate 1923; Sutton 1967; Baumgartner and Baumgartner 1992; Reinking 2004). The only Oklahoma nesting record outside

of Cimarron County is an 1860 observation from C. S. McCarthy (quoted in Nice 1931) of a nest "west of Fort Cobb" in Caddo County; however, this description is too vague to determine in what county it occurred.

In May-July 2004, JS and SM searched Cimarron and western Texas counties for Mountain Plovers and Long-billed Curlews (Numenius americanus) as part of a project designed to assess their distribution and

relative abundance. On 24 June, while driving section roads a few kilometers southeast of Elkhart, Kansas, in northwestern Texas County, SM found a pair of Mountain Plovers with 2 chicks. Roughly 1.5 km west of that location, SM

discovered a Mountain Plover sitting on a nest with 3 eggs, and at a third location 0.8 km west found another adult with 2 chicks. A few other nearby locations were searched, but heat waves impeded viewing conditions. On the morning of 25 June, SM returned to the area and found an additional pair with

3 chicks and an adult with 2 chicks. The 5 breeding locations (assuming no double-counting over the 2 days; locations and numbers of young indicate at least 4 pairs) were in 4 adjoining sections, and all were on bare areas of

agricultural fields. Two flyby birds were seen by JS near Guymon on 1 July 2004 but were not found on 2 subsequent days and were probably premigratory wanderers.

Conditions in western Texas County were similar to areas of Cimarron

County where Mountain Plovers are rare, but regular, breeders: numerous pivot­irrigated fields with large, bare, plowed areas around the edges. Three of the

family groups and the single nest found were in the plowed area surrounding pivot-irrigated crops; the fourth family group was in a large, plowed, rectangular area at the southeastern corner of a section. All had crop cover (corn, wheat) immediately adjacent in which to escape midday heat (Graul 1975; Shackford

1996). These bare areas in agricultural fields are of growing interest relative to conservation of the Mountain Plover (Shackford et al. 1999).

Vol. 38, No.2 13

These are the first confirmed breeding events for Mountain Plovers in Texas County, and they extend the bird's breeding range in Oklahoma approximately 25 km farther east than previously recorded. t seems possible that Mountain Plovers have bred here previously (Reinking 2004) and their

discovery was due to the project's special effort into this understudied area of the state. Additional documentation of breeding activity in Oklahoma,

particularly in non-traditional breeding habitats, will be important to ongoing conservation and recovery of the Mountain Plover.

Financial support for this project was provided from State Wildlife Grants under Project T-4-P of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and

Oklahoma State University and administered through the Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (Oklahoma Department of

Wildlife Conservation, Oklahoma State University, United States Geological Survey, and Wildlife Management Institute cooperating).

Literature Cited

Baumgartner, F. M., and A. M. Baumgartner. 1992. Oklahoma bird life.

University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. Carter, M. F., W. C. Hunter, D. N. Pashley, and K. V. Rosenberg. 2000.

Setting conservation priorities for landbirds in the United States: the

Partners in Flight approach. Auk 117: 541-548. Graul, W. D. 1975. Breeding biology of the Mountain Plover. Wilson

Bulletin 87:6-31.

Knopf, F. L. 1996. Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus). In The Birds of North America, No. 211 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). Academy of Natural Sciences Philadelphia, and American Ornithologists' Union,

Washington, D.C. Nice, M. M. 1931. The birds of Oklahoma. University of Oklahoma Press,

Norman. Panjabi, A. 2001. The Partners in Flight handbook on species assessment

and prioritization. Ver. 1.1. Reinking, D. L., Ed. 2004. Oklahoma breeding bird atlas. University of

Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Shackford, J. S. 1996. The importance of shade to breeding mountain plovers. Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society 29:17-24.

Shackford, J. S., D. M. Leslie, Jr., and W. D. Harden. 1999. Range-wide use of cultivated fields by Mountain Plovers during the breeding season.

Journal of Field Ornithology 70:114-120. Sutton, G. M. 1967. Oklahoma birds. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. Tate, R. C. 1923. Some birds of the Oklahoma Panhandle. Proceedings of the

Oklahoma Academy of Science 3:41-51.

14 Bull. Okla. Ornithol. Soc.

U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan. 2004. High priority shorebirds 2004. U.

S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arlington, Virginia.

Received 29 October 2004; accepted 26 April 2005.

ScOTT McCoNNELL, Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and Department .of Zoology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, E­mail: scott.mcconnell@okstate.edu; JOHNS. SHACKFORD, 429 East Oak Cliff Drive, Edmond, OK 73034, E-mail: johnsshack@aol.com; TIMOTHY J. O'CONNELL,

Department of Zoology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, E­mail: oconnet@okstate.edu; DAVID M. LESLIE, JR., Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, U.S. Geological Survey, 404 Life Sciences West, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74048

First record for the Gray Flycatcher in Oklahoma.-We observed a Gray

Flycatcher (Empidonax wrightii) on 20 May 2003 on private ranch-land in Cimarron

County, 10 km NE of Kenton, Oklahoma. We were able to observe this bird for 5

min from 1115 h at a distance of 15 m using 8.5 x 42 Swarovski and 10 x 40 Zeiss

binoculars. Light conditions were excellent with the bird sunlit to our north as it

was flycatching from a blooming grape vine (Vitis sp.), and perching about 5 m

above the ground much of the time. The flycatcher was slim and displayed regular

and obvious tail pumping, the tail rising quickly and descending slowly. It was

very pale gray overall with a very pale-yellowish belly and had short primary

projections and long tail. It had a faint eye ring and white wing bars, and its bill was

light yellow on bottom and black on top. No call was heard.

The species most similar to the Gray Flycatcher is the Dusky Flycatcher

(Empidonax oberholseri). This similarity led to early taxonomic confusion because the

type specimen for the Dusky Flycatcher was actually a Gray Flycatcher, the error

discovered in 1939 by Allan R. Phillips. Phillips also provided a major

breakthrough in identification that made the Gray Flycatcher perhaps the easiest

species of Empidonax flycatcher to identify in the field when he described its habit

of wagging its tail in a gentle downward movement, similar to a slowed-down tail

wag of an Eastern Phoebe (Sayomis phoebe) rather than flicking the tail up and then

down as performed by other Empidonax [Phillips, A. R. 1944, Gray Flycatcher

(Empidonax wrightii). In The Birds of North America, No. 458 (A Poole and F. Gill,

eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and the American

Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.].

The range of the Gray Flycatcher extends to every state W of Oklahoma,

and the nearest boundary of its known range is about 1500 km W of Oklahoma

in New Mexico. The flycatcher we observed was about 1525 km E of its known

range. No expansion has been reported in the northeastern part of its range.

The area in which we observed the Gray Flycatcher was arid high plains with

Vol. 38, No.2 15

plains cottonwood (Populus deltoides occidentalis) and mountain juniper

(Juniperus scopulorum) along a creek. The flycatcher was observed near the

creek which was lined with very large cottonwood trees and an understory

comprised mostly of junipers and vines. This record was accepted as

hypothetical (no tangible supporting evidence) by the Oklahoma Bird Records

Committee on 26 July 2003 and added to the Oklahoma Ornithological Society

Check-list of Oklahoma Birds.

Received 16 January 2004; accepted 15 June 2004.

BERLIN A. HECK, 109 Kaye Drive, Broken Bow, OK 74728; JERI A. McMAHON,

311 Bayou Road, Fort Gibson, OK 74434

Summer Tanager winters in Oklahoma.-The Summer Tanager (Piranga

rubra) is expected in Oklahoma from 12 April to 10 October (Oklahoma Bird

Records Committee 2000). On 17 January 2004, a neighbor advised me of an

unidentified bird visiting his feeder in Broken Bow, McCurtain County, for

about a week. At 0915 h, I observed a male Summer Tanager in first-winter

plumage, feeding on sunflower seeds at his feeder, and it was observed

periodically at his feeder until 22 January. I relocated a tanager nearby on 13

February, and on 17 February, I observed a tanager feeding at a peanut-butter­

mix feeder at my residence in Broken Bow (about 300 m from original

sighting), where it continued to feed almost daily to 12 April. The area where

this tanager wintered is an open subdivision with scattered homes, open areas,

and many large, hardwood and pine trees where Summer Tanagers are regular

nesters in summer. Autumn and winter 2003-2004 were mild and very dry,

with abundant fruit, berries, and other food resources available, which could

explain this tanager's ability to winter at this latitude.

There have been 4 prior winter records for Summer Tanager in Oklahoma;

the first being a female regularly observed in Tulsa, Tulsa County, from 11

January to 1 April 1954 (Letson and Letson 1955). On 3 January 1965, during

the Oklahoma Christmas Bird Count at Fort Gibson Reservoir, Marion

Norman and party observed a Summer Tanager eating pupae from a wasp

(Polistes sp.) nest in Wagoner County (Norman and Norman 1965). Although

Sutton (1967:565) cites this CBC, he gives 30 December 1964 as the date for this

Wagoner County record. A male in first winter plumage (UOMZ 6115: Uni­

versity of Oklahoma Museum of Zoology, now Oklahoma Museum of Natural

History) was found dead on 4 March 1967 in Tishomingo, Johnston County, by

Ida B. Yandell (Sutton 1982). A Summer Tanager was observed from 31 Decem­

ber 1993 to 8 February 1994 in Edmond, Oklahoma County, by L. and D.

Killian and W. Traxler (J. Arterburn, Chair, Oklahoma Bird Records Commit­

tee, 2004 pers. comm.).

16 Bull. Okla. Ornithol. Soc.

I thank William A. Carter for his assistance in preparing this manuscript. I thank the referees who reviewed this manuscript.

Literature Cited

Letson, 0. W., and E. Letson. 1955. New and unusual birds in Tulsa County

from the 1954 records of the Tulsa Audubon Society. Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science 36:83-84.

Norman, M. B., and J. G. Norman.1965. Audubon Field Notes 19:2. Oklahoma Bird Records Committee. 2000. Date guide to the occurrences of

birds in Oklahoma. Third edition. Oklahoma Ornithological Society, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Sutton, G. M. 1982. Species summaries of Oklahoma bird records. Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma, Norman.

Received 28 June 2004; accepted 13 October 2004.

BERLIN A. HECK, 109 Kaye Drive, Broken Bow, OK 74728

The Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society (ISSN 0474-0750) is published quar­terly in March, June, September, and December in Norman, Oklahoma. Co-editors, Bryan Coppedge (to whom manuscripts should be directed), Science and Mathematics, Tulsa Community College, 7505 West 41st Street, Tulsa, OK 74107-8633 e-mail: bcoppedg@tulsacc.edu; Jeffrey F. Kelly, University of Oklahoma; and David M. Leslie, Jr., U.S. Geological Survey. Subscription is by membership in the Oklahoma Ornithological Society: $5 student, $10 regular, $15 family, $15 or more sustaining, per year; life membership, $200. Direct questions regarding subscrip­tion, replacement copies, back issues, or payment of dues to Don Glass, OOS Membership/Circulation Chair, P.O. Box 2931, Claremore, OK 74018.

© 2005 Oklahoma Ornithological Society