The Who, What, Where Swallow-tailed Kite Winter Update

ARCI is tracking 11 Swallow-tailed Kites from Florida (9) and South Carolina (2) fitted with GPS/GSM tracking backpacks. Each tagged Swallow-tailed Kite helps us address important questions about the species’ conservation biology, including: nesting locations, home-range and core activity areas, pre-migration communal roost sites, and seasonal movements.

The Kites began their southbound migration at the end of July through mid-August. Since they need to fly close enough to a cell tower to upload their location information and much of their migration is in remote areas of South America, we get spotty coverage. The transmitter unit is storing all their locations until they finally get a connection.

The kite that has gone the farthest is Suwannee II from Dixie County, Florida.  She has been in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil since 3 October, 2022.

Bailey’s Homestead from Sanibel Florida last checked in in September from Mato Grosso near Reserva do Cabacal.

Sanibel Botanical (Sanibel Florida) and Juno (Palm Beach County, Florida) are about 60 miles from one another near Campos de Julio, Mato Grosso.

Two Palm Beach County, Florida Kites, Cypress and Lox 22 are in Rondônia, Brazil.

A kite named Suwannee, from Dixie County, Florida last uploaded data in Colombia in September while on his way to the Andes Mountains, an often a treacherous, high-altitude pass for migrating kites.

Our two South Carolina Kites, Peter’s Creek and Black Swamp, have not uploaded data since they passed through Costa Rica in early September, near the Caribbean city of Limón.

Two Swallow-tailed Kites last reported from Florida, but we have reason to believe that they are both well on their way to South America too. Sawgrass, from Pinellas County, Florida is presently our longest-tracked kite from 2016 and her transmitter is aging and may have quit while southbound through Florida on 14 August 2022.  Calusa, a male from Collier County, Florida tagged in 2022, most likely slipped across the Gulf of Mexico in July before his transmitter could receive an update that would allow it to communicate with cell networks away from the U.S. We are not worried however, because he will store all those locations and be able to upload them when he returns to the U.S. next spring. 

We expect intermittent data from these kites for the remainder of the winter as these birds fly deep into remote, mostly uninhabited areas where cell towers are scarce.  Meanwhile we’ll just be crossing our fingers that they are safe.

Capturing these graceful fliers couldn’t be possible without the help of our Great Horned Owl friends who attract the kites to a large net during our trapping efforts.  The four owls that have been instrumental in the capture of the 11 kites above are Trapper and Nonamé from the Avian Reconditioning Center in Apopka Florida, Hino from the Palm Beach Zoo and Conservation Society and Mina from the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW). 

We are grateful to our wonderful supporters that made this research possible.

American Bird Conservancy (ABC)
bioGraphic
CROW – Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife, Inc.

Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
Forest Investment Associates (FIA)

Friends of Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
Friends of Palmetto Bluff Conservancy
Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges
International Paper (IP)
Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge
National Audubon Society
Orleans Audubon Society
Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management
Palm Beach Zoo and Conservation Society
Palmetto Bluff Conservancy
Resource Management Service (RMS)
Sanibel-Captiva Audubon Society
Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation SCCF
St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park
St. Petersburg Audubon Society
The Avian Reconditioning Center for Birds of Prey
White Oak Forest Management