Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis)

Mississippi Kite near Science Hill, Pulaski County, Kentucky; Photograph Credit: Roseanna M. Denton (11 May 2017).

Abundance: Rare; 9 records, 1 in each of 4 Kentucky counties and 1 in each of 5 Tennessee counties (Map of UCR Distribution); all spring records and one of the two fall records involve single individuals; data from the Regional bird-monitoring efforts are too few to determine a trend in the population found in the Region (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Transient during late spring (7 records) and Visitor (Post-Breeding Disperser) during early fall (2 records); designated as a breeding species of special concern by the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (2004); designated as in need of management by the Tennessee Division of Natural Heritage (2004); photograph (see link below).

Regional High Count:

Information on Records: 

13 May 1951 (1) Standing Stone State Park, Overton County, Tennessee (Albert F. Ganier, m. ob.; Ganier 1951a), a Spring Bird Count record.

12 May 2001 (1—second-year) Mine Like Creek, Center Hill Lake, Putnam County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman; Casteel 2001c, Hoff 2001a), a Spring Bird Count record.

24 May 2008 (1) Allen's Ferry Rd., DeKalb County, Tennessee (Douglas A. Downs), a DeKalb County Foray record.

21 May 2010 (1) Dudley Creek, Lake Cumberland, Russell County, Kentucky (Roseanna M. Denton, Steve Denton; Palmer-Ball and McNeeley 2010c).

29 May 2010 (1—second-year) near Lake Tansi, Cumberland County, Tennessee (Edmund K. LeGrand), a Cumberland County Foray record.

30 May 2011 (1—adult) near Flat Rock, McCreary County, Kentucky (Roseanna M. Denton), a McCreary County Foray record.

10/11/12/13 August 2011 (3+/1/2/6) Terry Rd./Lower East Valley Rd. 0.5 km north of intersection with College Station Rd., Bledsoe County, Tennessee (Damien J. Simbeck/Carole Gobert/Stephen J. Stedman/Rick Houlk).

3 September 2012 (1—probable immature) intersection of Rt. 252 and Siddons Rd., Barren County, Kentucky (David L. Roemer photo, David R. Brown), possible product of the passage of the remnants of Hurricane Isaac.

11 May 2017 (1) Loveless Rd., Science Hill, Pulaski County, Kentucky (Roseanna M. Denton photo [above] and eBird # 36733605).

Habitat: The first three Regional sight records (in Overton and Putnam counties, Tennessee, and in Russell County, Kentucky) involved kites observed flying and foraging in stereotypical manner—i. e., hawking for aerial insects—over wooded hillsides near a body of water; the fourth record (in DeKalb County, Tennessee) involved a perched bird but took place in the same habitat.  At many locations where this raptor breeds, including western Tennessee and western Kentucky, a river is present nearby, so some of the larger rivers of the Region, including the Cumberland and Caney Fork, might attract this aerial insectivore during future spring migration seasons. The presence of the bottomlands of the Sequatchie River near the sightings in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, during August 2011 may have been a factor in the kites' use of that site.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: No registrations.

Foray Results: A summary of data for late spring migrants from UCR Forays follows (to view a map displaying foray data for a county or a sub-Region for this species, click on the name of an underlined county or state below):

* Because some foray blocks fall into two or three counties, the total of blocks in the Kentucky or Tennessee portions of the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the counties of each portion of the Region; similarly, because some blocks fall into both states, the total of blocks for the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the two states.

Remarks: Note the similarity of the dates of the Regional sightings during spring; mid- to late May is clearly the time to be looking for this attractive raptor.

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited