We’ve seen many reports of Swallow-tailed Kites in Florida already! We hope you get to see these beautiful birds soar across the sky if you haven’t already. Remember that ARCI is interested in your Swallow-tailed Kite sighting, especially if it is a nest site or roost site. Please follow this link to report your sightings to us: https://arcinst.org/
Twelve GPS-tracked kites have begun their northbound migration as of 2 March, 2020. Babcock not only produced data last week, but he snuck back to Florida!! He’s our first of 14 kites back in the US!
JAX is the farthest south, in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil, while 4 kites are in the State of Rondônia, Brazil with Pritchard in the lead and Wilson, Apopka, and Sarasota not far behind. Sawgrass gave us relief when she showed data once again from northern Bolivia. These birds will be crossing the cell-free area of the Amazon and we hope they travel safely through to cell range once again to tell their migration stories.
Suwannee checked in from Colombia this week and is about to cross the treacherous Andes Mountains. The two Louisiana Kites, Lacombe and Ponchitolawa have cruised over the Andes of Columbia and are just getting to Panama now.
Two Kites tagged in 2019, Sanibel and PBC-ERM Male are in Nicaragua and will be our next to watch returning to Florida.
Not pictured are OK and PBC-ERM female where we lost their signals in August of last year in Colombia on their southbound migration. We are holding hope that they will be seen on their breeding grounds this season and that their transmitters produce data once again.
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