Ratio of Immatures to Adults
In the juvenal plumage flight feathers of the kites are brown, barred with white, much different in appearance from the dark, slaty plumage of adults. Bent (op. cit.:67) stated that these barred flight feathers are retained through the second summer, and he quoted Mr. G. W. Stevens as having found kites breeding in this immature plumage. On June 2, 1961, I attempted to determine the ratio of these yearling kites to others in the population at the Park. Most of the kites seen were in flight too far away to discern definitely whether or not they were juveniles, and records were limited to those seen at relatively close range. In a total of 108 records only 11 pertained to these yearlings and the remaining 97 were identified as of adults. Beyond doubt in the course of my counts some individuals were recorded repeatedly, therefore the counts are not entirely acceptable. However, on each occasion that kites were seen in numbers in early summer, the adults greatly outnumbered the juveniles. The approximate nine to one ratio of adults to yearlings seems much too high. Even if the difference is much less than indicated, the high ratio of adults to yearlings would seem to imply that the adults have a long life expectancy. A rather improbable alternative is that some of the yearlings remain in winter quarters or wander elsewhere rather than accompanying the adults on the return migration to their breeding grounds. Still another alternative is that the breeding season of 1960 was relatively unsuccessful, but this idea is negated by my own observations at the Park in late 1960, as recently fledged young were numerous then.
At the time of my visit to the Park August 21 to 24, 1961, all young had recently left the nests and were able to fly. However, their behavior was so much different from that of the adults that a reliable ratio could not be obtained. The fledglings tended to remain in the nest tree, or to make relatively short flights near it, while the adults occupied with catching of prey for themselves and their young, spent much of their time aloft. The adults were hence far more conspicuous than the fledglings. However, it is my impression that the fledglings were from one-third to one-fourth as numerous as the adults. If this ratio is correct, and if all adults had bred, from two-thirds to three-fourths of the eggs and/or nestlings must have been destroyed. This rate of loss seems reasonable in view of the known histories of nests observed in June and again in July, and of the fates of birds' nests in general.