Mississippi Kites continue to struggle and 2024 was another difficult
year for them in New Hampshire with no confirmed young reported for the
first time since 2017. Only 3 territorial pairs were confirmed this
year with two of these pairs found to have a nest and both started
incubating. Sadly, however, both of these nests failed early in the
season. The Kites were first made famous by nesting in 2008 and this is
(at least) the 17th consecutive year that kites (between 1 and 4 pairs)
have nested in New Hampshire in this isolated, rare, nesting colony.
A summary of the Kite territories was as follows:
DURHAM #1 - Kites in Durham have been somewhat regular to appear in
recent years, but nesting hasn't been regular and they haven't produced
any young in the last 4 years. This year, a pair was back quickly and
observed copulating on May 22nd; however, Fish Crows seemed to be
harassing them. No further observations were made until a nest was
discovered by Deb Powers on June 16th with a female active at a nest
high in a white pine in a side yard of a residential neighborhood.
Incubation was thought to start a few days later on the late date of
June 19th. Incubation looked fine into the 4th of July weekend;
however, nest failure was reported on July 6th by Deb when Fish Crows
were seen removing sticks from the nest and no Kites in the area. It's
not clear what caused the failure, but the Fish Crows may have been the
culprit.
DURHAM #2 - This is the only bright spot for the year. It appears to be
a new territory, different from the other pair in Durham; however, no
sign of a nest was located. Starting in May, reports were received of
one or two birds and even copulation was reported. Random sightings
continued into August; however, no nest was found and there were no
signs of fledged young.
STRATHAM - Only one pair of Kites was found in Stratham this year. The
pair rebuilt the same nest that successfully fledged a single chick last
year. The nest was high up in a maple tree crotch in the front yard of
a single family home in an established residential neighborhood. While
the beginning stages of nest building and courtship were not observed,
the nest appeared to be getting bigger, and then on a June 18th visit, a
bird was seen incubating!
https://ebird.org/checklist/S182269871
Things continued to look fine with brief weekly visits showing a female
on the nest, but things turned bad on July 13th when I visited and found
no bird on the nest or in the vicinity and no sign of a chick in the
nest. Subsequent visits showed a female at the nest site acting
strangely; either partly incubating/brooding or leaving the nest and not
returning. Again, with no sign of a chick in the nest and no male to be
seen. It's unclear what happened here, but I finally concluded a nest
failure on July 25th with no sign of a young bird in the nest.
Other birds seen during the summer include a one-year old Kite that was
seen wandering the neighborhoods of Stratham which may be different from
the nesting pair, and there were a couple of late season reports in
August of a single bird in Newmarket. No reports were received from
Greenland where there was a nest a few years ago.
A summary of confirmed fledged Kites (and pairs of kites present) from
recent years in NH:
2017 - 0 (3 pairs)
2018 - 3 (3 pairs)
2019 - 2 (3 pairs)
2020 - 3 (3 pairs)
2021 - 1 (4 pairs)
2022 - 1 (4 or 5 pairs)
2023 - 1 (4 pairs)
2024 - 0 (3 pairs)
Thanks to all who helped out this year and contributed to this information.
PLEASE NOTE - I WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP THE LOCATIONS OF MOST OR ALL OF
THESE NESTS QUIET UNLESS THE CIRCUMSTANCES PERMIT. THE POPULARITY OF
THESE BIRDS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS (AND BIRDERS WITH CAMERAS) IS A MESSY
SITUATION WITH HOME OWNERS AND NEIGHBORS. The kites don't seem to care
much, but the people do.
Steve Mirick
Bradford, MA
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