Adults are overall gray with lighter heads and underparts, and blackish tails and wingtips.
Immature birds are streaked below with banded tails. In flight, Mississippi Kites are often mistaken for large swallows, as they appear dark overall. Mississippi Kites preferring hammocks, mixed pine and hardwood forests, usually near water. This species is found in north Florida in moist areas. Birds found in Kansas, Iowa, Tennessee, South Carolina and the Gulf coast of Texas travel south to Florida April every year, arriving by April.