On the first day of the new year, I went hiking with friends. At the entrance of San Antonio Reserve, I watched a kite -- it's not a paper toy tied with a thread in your hands but a real live kite -- a white tailed kite (Elanus leucurus). I took it as a falcon at the first sight according to its shape and size in the poor light, but I found it was a mistake soon after it began to hover! It was the first time that I saw a mid-size bird hovering like a humming bird, and it just moved up and down in the air like a helicopter. When I saw another kite joined the dance, I speculated it was the court dance in the breeding season though it seems a little earlier. However, I found it was the second mistake I made after I checked my field book: They were hunting rodents in a special social way. Now I got why we call the paper toy "kite" in English and "纸鸢" in Chinese.
See a photo of a hovering white tailed kite here.
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