Kites are Georgia’s most beautiful birds of prey

To most people, I suspect, the word “kite” means an ultralight contraption made of sticks, string and plastic that kids fly in parks and at the beach.

For birders, though, kite has special meaning: It’s the name given to two of Georgia’s most spectacularly flying birds — the swallow-tailed kite and the Mississippi kite. This time of year, birders may drive many miles to see the birds, now gathering in mixed flocks to feed and fatten up in preparation for their migration to winter grounds in Central and South America.

Most of the kites, which are birds of prey, will be gone by late September, making them some of Georgia’s earliest departing birds.

The prospect of seeing both kite species foraging in small flocks for insects and other prey over some old fields and pastures lured me to Madison County east of Athens last weekend. Postings on the Georgia birders’ chat line had reported them in the area. The birds, which nest in Georgia’s Coastal Plain region, are uncommon in the Piedmont.

Near the town of Comer, I quickly spied a swallow-tailed kite — crow-size with black-and-white plumage. I followed it with my binoculars as it majestically flapped and soared over a field toward a nearby woodland. Few birds on the planet can match the beauty and flying mastery of a swallow-tailed kite as it rolls and glides to snatch airborne insects or swoops low over trees to pick off small creatures on leaves and twigs.

“Its incredible maneuverability is a product of powerful, swept-back wings and strong, forked trail,” birder Giff Beaton said in his book “Birds of Georgia.”

Later, I spied two Mississippi kites, which are equally fascinating. “Constantly fanning and twisting its long rudder-like tail, the Mississippi kite can swiftly adjust its position in the airy heights” while chasing flying insects, Beaton said.

An approaching thunderstorm cut short my kite-watching, but seeing just a few of the beautiful birds had made it a successful outing.

In the sky: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon will be new Tuesday. Mercury (near the moon Wednesday) and Venus (near the moon Thursday) are low in the west at dusk. Mars and Jupiter are in the southwest and Saturn is high in the east, also around dusk.

CHARLES SEABROOK The swallow-tailed kite, like this one flying over a swamp in South Georgia, rolls, swoops and glides while chasing insects on the wing.