Mississippi Kite

Ictinia mississippiensis

Catches dragonflies on the wing and eats them mid-flight. The acrobat of southern skies.

Population: ~700,000 individuals (Partners in Flight/Audubon estimate; species breeds almost entirely in the continental US, so this approximates the global total)
Habitat: Riparian woodlands, groves, and shelterbelts adjacent to open grassland or prairie
Fun fact: Mississippi Kites often hunt and even drink on the wing, snatching insects out of the air and eating them without landing, and they migrate in large communal flocks to South America.
Range: Breeds across the south-central and southeastern United States (range expanding north/west, e.g. into California and New England); winters in subtropical/temperate South America (northern Argentina, southern Brazil)
Diet: Mostly large flying insects (cicadas, grasshoppers, dragonflies, katydids, beetles) caught on the wing; occasionally small vertebrates like frogs, snakes, bats, rodents, and small birds
Size: 0.35 m
Wingspan: 0.91 m
Lifespan: 8 years

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