Swallow tail kite.

Swallow tail kite. It looks like he was about to grab something.

Two swallow tail kites.

Mississippi kite flying right over my head.

Mississippi kite.

I had heard the kites were back flying over the cow pastures up in Hernando county. The area is about an hour north of Tampa. Last year in July I made it up there but only saw the swallow tail kites from very far away. This year I got up there around 8am. There were a few other cars driving along the dirt roads looking for the kites. I saw the swallow tail kites pretty early. It wasn’t until 11am that I saw my first ever mississippi kite. There were several of us standing on the side of the dirt road taking pictures of the red headed woodpeckers when what looked like a ghost bird flew right over our heads. It’s a pretty rare bird here so everyone was excited to see it come close enough to the road to get pictures. But in reality, it’s not that cool of a bird. It’s kind of boring. My hubby said later “You drove all of the way up there for that?” I replied “Well yes, it catches and eats dragonflies in mid-flight.” Of course, I didn’t get a shot of that. Maybe next year. Besides the kites, there were other birds I don’t get to see too often so more to come on the dirt road trip.