Merry Christmas, here’s a kite

I was at Hayward Shoreline a couple of weeks ago, doing what I do best, which is wandering around looking for a specific species of wildlife (in this case, burrowing owls) that someone told me could be found there and failing spectacularly to find it, when my disappointment at not finding what I was looking for was somewhat offset by seeing a new-to-me species, the white-tailed kite. We didn’t really have kites in Virginia, save one stray Mississippi kite that mysteriously ended up injured in someone’s back yard and went into care at the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia, where I used to volunteer, but I’ve enjoyed viewing swallow-tailed kites in Charleston, SC and black kites in Tanzania. I think the very striking and beautiful white-tailed kite may be my favorite so far, though. I saw at least a half-dozen of them that day on Hayward Shoreline, by far the highlight of my day.

Happy holidays!