Joann Merritt's Essays

The Whistlers
September, 2001

I miss the friendly whistled greetings of the Mississippi Kites. Summer mornings as they searched the skies for insects their high-pitched “phew-phew” made me aware of their presence. A few times they kited through our backyard, perhaps hoping to dine on the dragonflies that frequent Jesse’s Pond. As an exercise in bird watching Frances once suggested that we try to find something new about a familiar bird and this summer I accomplished that - with the help from Don’s excellent hearing and an observant neighbor, Joye Courtney!

Looking up from my dishwashing chore I saw an immature Mississippi Kite land at the west end of Jesse’s Pond. I rarely see hawks drinking anywhere, but at our pond I have observed both Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawks drink and then skitter back and forth across the water before preening. The kite just had a long drink and departed, showing its black and white barred tail. This tail pattern caused me to think that this was the unidentified hawk I had glimpsed the previous evening as it swooped from our plum tree.

In the latter part of the summer when the young were flying with the adults Don heard an unusual call. There was a whistled “phew” followed by several soft calls in succession. This is known as chippering and is used in 5 different situations. One, as in this instance, is used to keep in contact with the young.

Our neighbor reported the kites nestling and raised two young in a tree in their backyard. During the time the adults were feeding nestlings Joye found legs and wings of large insects under the nest. These parts would be hard to digest so only the soft part was offered to the nestlings. I read that Box turtles will sometimes come regularly to glean these insect parts. Joye also found the carcasses of Horny Toads on the scrap pile with only the soft middle part gone. She didn’t see the kites capture our federally protected State Reptile, but they were not flattened as if they had been run over by a vehicle. Joye enjoyed the kites but hopes they don’t eat any more Texas Horned Lizards. Surely next year we’ll have enough cicadas and grasshoppers to satisfy them.

If you don’t have a family of kites nesting near your home the next best thing is to read The Mississippi Kite, a book co-authored by Eric Bolen and Dan Flores. I was fortunate enough to have both this year. The book was a gift from John Cys, friend and Midnat now living in Wichita Falls, and it contains information on these new-for-me activities of this graceful hawk. The authors likened the overhead view of a kite to the Batman logo one sees in comic books so the next time I hear kites whistle I’ll be looking up for the Batman silhouette.

Whistling to get someone’s attention may not be considered good manners but the Mississippi Kites can “phew-phew” for me and I won’t be offended.