Mississippi Kite –
These birds are very territorial. They will dive bomb you if you walk under their tree when they have young chicks. One time on a hunting trip my Dad and I walked under a tree and got dived on by the kite that lived in that tree. They fall out of the sky with their wings folded up and aiming right for your head. Then usually at about five feet away they flare their wings out and veer up and away from you. It’s awesome.
Mississippi Kites are really important because they eat many types of crop-eating bugs. Many times you see them flying up way high in the air. They are birds of prey and they eat cicadas or locusts or grasshoppers. Cicadas fly way up high in the air so the kites go up and get a snack for themselves or their young.
Mississippi Kites are also migratory birds which means they fly north for summer and then south for winter. So I don’t know why they are named “Mississippi” because they live a lot of places.
