Friday, November 05, 2010

White-tailed Kite in NJ

A White-tailed Kite has been found in NJ along the Barnegat Bayshore. It was first reported on October 21 by a local birder, but not seen again. It was then re-found by the same birder on Wednesday. Today, it was seen by many birders. This is the second record of this species in NJ. From how I've heard it, the story of the first sighting goes something like this: A birder was photographing a group of Mississippi Kites down in Cape May. Some weeks or months later he was sharing the photos with a well-known NJ birder and, lo and behold, one of the photos was actually a White-tailed Kite!


Interestingly, a White-tailed Kite spent over two months in Connecticut and was last seen in mid-October. I may or may not try for the bird this weekend. It's about 90 minutes from me and we've got some plans, so I'll play it by ear.

4 comments:

John B. said...

Good luck if you do make a run for it!

Rick Wright said...

Nice! Hope it sticks around. I've always been bemused at how few records NJ has for the species; maybe it'll start to make up for it now.

Greg said...

I am in Monmouth County in Ocean Township, about 2 miles inland. I was out shoveling snow today and I kept seeing these pure white birds with black finger-tips hovering overhead like vultures. When I first saw them I thought they were seagulls, but then I got a better look and I was sure they were hawks becasue of their size but they looked more like falcons. I have been searching the web for hours and these sound like my birds.

Patrick B. said...

Hi Greg. Gulls are about the same size as hawks. did you see the head or bill? Seeing these kites would be VERY unusual. Only two have ever been seen in NJ.