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From: pstevens@Metaphor.COM (Paul Stevens)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Mississippi Kite in CA?
Message-ID: <698@cronos.metaphor.com>
Date: 16 May 91 16:16:30 GMT
Sender: news@cronos.metaphor.com
Reply-To: pstevens@Metaphor.COM (Paul Stevens)
Organization: m4
Lines: 21


Unfortunately, it's taken me a few days to get this posted...

This last Sunday (May 12) I saw what I believe to be a Mississippi
Kite in the general area of the southern end of San Francisco Bay.
Specifically, it was in the fields that surround Shoreline Park
(next to the Amphitheater).  The field marks were quite definitive:
Falcon shaped and Peregrine-sized, slow languid flight and definite
WHITE PATCHES on the top inside base of the wings.  I know that this
Kite is only a casual visitor to California, but the Peterson _Hawks_
field guide mentions that they "wander far outside their breeding
area in late spring and late summer".  (Not mid-summer???)

How rare would this sighting be?  Has anyone else ever seen M-K's
in the Bay Area? Any input is appreciated.

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   Paul Stevens                        {apple|decwrl}!metaphor!pstevens
   Metaphor Computer Systems           pstevens@metaphor.com
   Mountain View, CA