Observations of Termite Insectivory by Mississippi Kites (Ictinia mississippiensis) at a Nuptial Emergence in Louisiana, USA

The Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) is a fairly small raptor (body mass = 216–341 g, with females larger than males) with a varied diet consisting of medium-sized and large insects, anurans, and small reptiles, birds, and mammals, including bats (Sherrod 1978, Parker and Palmer 1988, Bader and Bednarz 2011, Parker 2020). Although vertebrates are a significant component of the diet of some individuals and populations, insects are numerically the most important prey of Mississippi Kites (Bader and Bednarz 2011, Chiavacci et al. 2014, Parker 2020). Mississippi Kites are agile fliers able to take insects, birds, and bats on the wing, and they frequently congregate in large feeding aggregations where these prey are abundant (Bent 1937, Sutton 1939, Skinner 1962, Turcotte and Watts 1999). We here report novel observations of a group of Mississippi Kites...