Monday, March 19, 2012

Better Kite Photos

I showed you some really horrible photos of Snail Kites from last month when Connie and I went to explore Harnes Marsh.  We decided to take the girls over to see if we could get lucky again. We got pretty darned lucky!  Barbara spotted a hawk on a telephone pole before we even got to the marsh.  We turned the van around and "Viola!" a Snail Kite - with a snail.  It took off before we could get close but we all got to see it.

Still lousy, but you can see the snail in the Kites talons as it flies off to feast.

We headed off to the marsh and didn't see another Snail Kite.  We saw a lot of other birds.  Then, on our way back out, we saw the Kite back at the same location.  This time the Kite was hunting along the canal. 

 I think this is a pretty good shot of the Snail Kite hover-hunting along the canal. 

Here it is perched on the wire over the road.  Check out the hook on his bill.

 Here is the Kite flying up the canal.  

I guess this bird isn't afraid of people either.  That is a good thing since they are endangered due to loss of habitat. 

1 comment:

Diane Widdop said...

It really was a great look at the kite. Linda found an apple snail shell, which is what the kites eat. Pretty good size - bigger than a golf ball, anyway.