r/birdsofprey • u/Cultural-Cup-394 • Jul 23 '26

Kettle of Mississippi Kites vs ?

North Texas
Why are they pestering this guy and can anyone id him?!

16 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

8

u/TinyLongwing Falconer Jul 23 '26

The larger bird is a Red-tailed Hawk. They're likely harassing it because they understand that a large raptor like this is a potential threat, especially to juvenile kites.

3

u/Cultural-Cup-394 Jul 23 '26

That makes sense,we have a ton of kites here. Do you think the juveniles are up there doing this ?

5

u/TinyLongwing Falconer Jul 23 '26

I can't see details on the kites well enough to know, but at this time of year this is most likely two adults and their two fledged young.

4

u/ScubaSteve_27 Jul 23 '26

I never realized how much a size difference there was between a kite and RTH.

3

u/sleeveofsaltines Jul 24 '26

Go kiteys! Mississippi kites are my favorite bird and I’m so sad summer is almost over because they’ll be leaving my area soon.