Bird

Mississippi Kite

Ictinia mississippiensis

A summer resident that nests in North Carolina. Found in 26 of 100 counties, across 14 habitats.

Here: Summer
Nesting: Nests here
Range: 26 of 100 counties
Habitats: 14

Adult Mississippi Kite, whole bird — **Adult**. no rights reserved. CC0. iNaturalist photo 310243862. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: Summer
Nesting: Nests here
Range: 26 of 100 counties
Habitats: 14
Habitat models: Summer

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in North Carolina 14

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 14

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier; Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems; Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest; Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian; South-Central Interior Large FloodplainNamed place / source context. Shown: Congaree Swamp National Monument floodplain forest, South Carolina; representative illustration, no exact viewpoint, a neighboring state.fallen (uprooted) tree, John Dawson, by1988. Public domain. Source record.

SummerCentral Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and FlatwoodsGeorge Inness, Georgia Pines (1890): tall, straight pines over an open, grassy floor in a south Georgia pine woods. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Shown: Georgia pine woods (George Inness, 1890; site not named), a neighboring state.Georgia Pines, George Inness (1825-1894), 1890. Public domain. Source record.

SummerSouthern and Central Appalachian Cove ForestRegional / representative. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina and Tennessee; representative habitat composite, not a documented exact viewpointCove hardwood forest, Hynes, Robert 'Bob', by 2012. Public domain. Source record.

SummerCentral Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; South-Central Interior Small Stream and RiparianFrederic Edwin Church, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina (1865-70): a boulder-strewn mountain river under autumn-coloured ridges. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. North Carolina mountains (Frederic Edwin Church, oil sketch 1865-70; Cooper Hewitt)*Drawing, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina, 1865–70*, Frederic Edwin Church, 1865-1870. Public domain. Source record.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall; Central Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Swamp Systems; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier; Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland; Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression SwampNamed place / source context. Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretationView, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

Hardwood and oak flatwoods

Flat, poorly drained uplands and terraces with oaks, sweetgum and sometimes loblolly pine, wet in winter and dry in summer, but neither a floodplain nor a swamp.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier

Moist forests

Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.

SummerSouthern and Central Appalachian Cove Forest

Pine savannas

Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.

SummerCentral Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods

Pocosins and bay forests

Dense evergreen shrub wetlands and bay forests on wet, acid peat of the Coastal Plain.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin; Atlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

Seeps and springs

Places where groundwater keeps the soil or rock wet, such as seepage slopes and spring runs.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Streamhead Seepage Swamp - Pocosin - and Baygall

SummerBeside its main habitat.Open Water (Fresh)Regional / representative. Shown: Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia; representative pond ecosystem, a neighboring state.Georgia pond and emergent wetland, Robert 'Bob' Hynes, 1997. Public domain. Source record.

SummerBeside its main habitat.Cultivated Cropland; Pasture/Hay; Disturbed/Successional - Grass/Forb Regeneration; Utility Swath - Herbaceous; Ruderal Upland - Old FieldLyell Carr, Black Mountain: a pasture and hayfield with a log barn, rail fence and grazing cow below the Black Mountains. Black Mountain, North Carolina (Lyell E. Carr)*Black Mountainlabel QS:Len,"Black Mountain"*, Lyell Carr, c. 1890-1912. Public domain. Source record.

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.

SummerBeside its main habitat.

Forest edges and thickets

Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.

SummerBeside its main habitat.Disturbed/Successional - Shrub Regeneration; Successional Shrub/Scrub (Other); Harvested Forest - Shrub Regeneration

Other habitats in its models (45)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in North Carolina. Those recorded in North Carolina first, the rest by region.

Elsewhere in the South (22)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer.
Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loblolly-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer.
Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Summer.
Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Summer.
Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Summer.
Mississippi River Riparian Forest Summer.
Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer.
Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer.
Red River Large Floodplain Forest Summer.
South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Summer.
South-Central Interior Mesophytic Forest Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer.

Northeast (1)

Appalachian Hemlock-Hardwood Forest Summer.

Land cover and other classes (22)

Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer.
Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer.
Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Summer, beside its main habitat.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Summer, beside its main habitat.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Summer, beside its main habitat.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Shrub Summer, beside its main habitat.
Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Summer.
Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer.
Recently Burned Summer, beside its main habitat.
Recently Burned Forest Summer, beside its main habitat.
Recently Burned Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
Recently Burned Shrubland Summer, beside its main habitat.
Recently Logged Areas Summer, beside its main habitat.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium Modifier Summer.

All habitats

Seasons in North Carolina

Summer: nests here, in 26 of 100 counties.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in North Carolina, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.