Black-Shouldered Kite Brings a Gopher to Her Chicks

At Natural Bridges State Beach,Santa Cruz, CA, a Black-Shouldered Kite brings food to her four hungry chicks throughout the day. Food sources include gophers, voles, small snakes, lizards, small birds, crickets, and beetles. While she brings most of the food to her brood, her mate watches over them from a distance, atop a tall tree, on the lookout for crows and other hawks. These youngsters will probably fledge within the next two weeks. Photographed July 20, 2016. [I prefer the original name for this species – I’m old school.]