coleopteran orthopteran
unspecified 187 unspecified 120
carabid 39 locustid
cicindelid unspecified 34
unspecified 18 Arphia crassa 1
Cicindela sp. 2 Melanoplus cf. differentialis, 2
hydrophilid Schistocerca cf. lineata 1
unspecified 18 Xanthippus corallipes 2
Hydrous sp. 1 tettigoniid
scarabaeid unspecified 3
unspecified 1 Daihinia sp. 1
Canthon sp. 3 homopteran
silphid cicadid
Necrophorus sp. 1 unspecified 15
Tibicen cf. pruinosa 1
lepidopteran (unspecified moth), 3

At Meade State Park I gained the impression that much of the foraging is carried on near the nest. The short time lapse between successive feedings was one indication, and from time to time while keeping nests under observation, I saw kites that were individually recognizable as the owners coursing back and forth in the vicinity. However, only a few individuals were recognizable. For several minutes before and after delivering food, such an adult was often seen soaring within 200 to 300 yards of the nest, or sometimes much closer. A somewhat different impression was received on August 23, 1961, at Natural Bridge, south of Sun City, Barber County, Kansas, where I observed two pairs of kites feeding fledglings. One fledgling was seen to be fed ten times in a 1½ hour period. The transfer of food from the adult usually required less than a minute. Then the adult would leave the tree, in a ravine, and drift away. Circling and soaring, it seemed to be wandering aimlessly, but within two or three minutes it was usually out of sight over the horizon. In what appeared to be slow, lazy, flight it usually drifted off to the west, to more upland areas of short grass and sage brush. Once, watching from a high knoll I succeeded in keeping it in view for almost five minutes, and during most of this time it appeared to be between one and two miles away, but it finally moved off even farther. Dr. Hibbard mentioned seeing kites in the vicinity of the Jinglebob Ranch eight to ten miles from the Park, and he believed that these individuals had come from the Park since there was no suitable habitat in the intervening areas. Actually, the distance could have been covered in a few minutes' flying time, but it is unlikely that these individuals were feeding young at the Park, else they would not have wandered so far. On several occasions groups of from three to 20 individuals were seen in open terrain as much as four or five miles from the Park.

Breeding Cycle

Probably kites arriving from their northward migration are already paired. In those observed at the Park in the first week of June, there was no indication of courtship, or of sexual rivalry. On June 1, 1961, incubation had begun. The birds had arrived some three weeks earlier, according to Smith. Although arriving from the south long after most raptors have begun their nesting, the kites are not further delayed by establishment of territories and choosing of mates, and nesting is underway soon after their arrival. According to Sutton (1939:45) the nest-building is an exceedingly leisurely process. In the first two weeks after their arrival he observed that the kites only occasionally bring a twig to the nest, usually repairing last year's structure rather than starting a new one. Sutton recorded egg-laying on May 17 and 18 and hatching on June 18 in northwestern Oklahoma, and the timing of these events must be similar in Meade County, Kansas.

Shortly before sunset on June 1 a pair was observed at close range from a parked automobile as the kites perched on roadside fence posts about 50 feet apart at the Park boundary. At this time the birds lacked their usual restlessness and were perching quietly, neither preening nor attempting to find prey. With no preliminaries the male flew to the female and lit on her back to copulate. The female was receptive but did not crouch in a horizontal position. The mounting lasted for approximately a minute. During the first 30 seconds the male was fully occupied with balancing and positioning himself, and copulation occurred only during the latter half of the mounting. During this interval cloacal contact was effected three times, but was only momentary each time. The birds were silent. After the male left, the female continued to perch until flushed by my movements.

Judging from the nests that were examined, the kites of the Meade Park area are well synchronized in their nesting, as all arrive at approximately the same time. Bent (1936:66) stated that if a kite's nest is robbed, the birds will lay a second set, either in the old nest or a new one, about two weeks later. All young seen at Meade State Park seemed to represent an age range of considerably less than two weeks, and, presumably, no renestings were involved.

Nests were variable in size. Some were remarkably small in relation to size of the kites, and would scarcely have been credited to this species, had not the kites been seen sitting on them. Nests were from 10 to 18 (average 14) inches long and from 10 to 14 (average 11.7) inches wide, in forks or crotches of branches. The branches supporting the nests were from 1½ to 10 inches in diameter. The nests were constructed of twigs of approximately pencil size. Of 37 nests at the Park, 29 were in cottonwoods, six were in willows, and two were in elms. The figures probably reflect the relative numbers of each of these species of tree rather than any clear-cut preference of the kites. By the time nesting has begun the trees have leafed out, and the nests are well concealed.

At the time of my visit to the Park, July 18 to 22, nestlings were well grown, and were beginning to feather out. On August 4 and 5 the young were well feathered, but flight feathers were not fully grown and the young remained in the nest or perched on nearby branches. On August 21 to 24 the young were fully fledged, and were able to fly strongly but they still spent most of their time perching and those of a brood tended to stay near together, usually in the nest tree.

In a total of 26½ hours of observation, 148 feedings were observed—on the average one per 10.7 minutes. The interval changed from an average of 12.8 minutes for 62 feedings on July 19 to 21, to 8.5 minutes for 59 feedings on August 4, and to 10.8 minutes for 27 feedings on August 21. The longer interval on July 19 to 21 may have resulted from the greater furtiveness of the adult kites at this stage in their nesting cycle. Nests usually were watched through field glasses at distances of 50 to 100 feet. Ordinarily kites are not disturbed by the presence of a person at these distances, but when delivering food to the nest they seemed somewhat distracted and sometimes stopped only momentarily then left, still carrying the food. Usually they swooped at the observer when leaving; rarely they swooped at him as they approached the nest. All observations were between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., and there was no obvious trend according to time. Earlier and later in the day the rate of delivery is probably less. The kites are notably late risers, and their activity increases gradually after sunrise; in late afternoon activity tapers off again. In 89 feedings, the average visit to the nest lasted 51 seconds but this average included a few relatively long stops, up to four minutes in length, and 60 per cent of the visits were for intervals of 30 seconds or less.

Insects often protruded from the bills of the adult kites delivering food, but most of the food was carried in the throat. Sometimes the gorge was much distended, although nothing protruded from the mouth. The adult upon alighting sometimes would pass food to the nestling, and sometimes would disgorge a mass of food in the nest in front of the nestling. When the young were small, the adult after having disgorged a food mass, remained to pick up the food, bit by bit, and place it in the mouth of the nestling. However, after the young were partly feathered out the adult merely left the food for them. The nestling sometimes would peck at the disgorged material for several minutes after the adult left before all of the food was eaten.