BrantaMedia.com

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

With pearlescent gray feathers and a sleek silhouette, the Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) glides gracefully through the skies on wingbeats that manage to look effortless. While this medium-sized raptor with long, pointed wings and a squared-off tail may resemble a Peregrine Falcon in flight, the Mississippi Kite’s bouyant and easy flight can quickly distinguish it from the rapid, businesslike flight of the falcon. Its aerial acrobatics have earned the kite nicknames like “Hovering Kite.”

A long-distance migratory species, the Mississippi Kite breeds throughout the southern and central United States, making

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

Most woodpecker species in the United States and Canada display a mix of black, white, and red plumage, but don’t tell the Lewis’s Woodpecker. Its unusual mix of colors includes a red face, pink belly, glossy green back, crown, and nape, and silver-gray collar. The bird is simply stunning.

Lewis’s Woodpecker also differs from other members of its family in many of its foraging styles and food choices. In the summer, the bird eats mostly insects, catching them in flight by swooping out from a perch like a flycatcher or