Together with Orleans Audubon Society, we are tracking 20 GPS-tagged adult Swallow-tailed Kites from the breeding grounds in the Southeastern United States. These birds have bred on private and public lands throughout the Gulf States and are now preparing for their 5,000-mile flight to South America for the austral summer. The following map depicts where these birds spent the breeding season.
ARCI and Orleans Audubon Society (OAS) are tracking Swallow-tailed Kites not only to monitor the roosts, foraging areas, stopover sites, and winter destinations, but also to see how they use public and private lands throughout the Southeastern States. We are grateful to our funders and project partners for making this research possible.
Meet the aerial research team:
Sanibel Botanical: Female, tagged in 2021from Lee County, Florida nested this season but failed at the egg stage. Funding from anonymous donors and logistical support from the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation.
Periwinkle: Male, tagged in 2025, from Lee County, Florida nested and fledged one chick this season. Funding from the Sanibel – Captiva Audubon Society and logistical support from the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation.
Cinco: Female, tagged in 2023 from Collier County, Florida nested and presumably fledged chick(s) this season. Funding from the Friends of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and logistical support from the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.
Suwannee Scout: Male, tagged in 2025, from Levy, County, Florida nested and fledged one chick this season. Funding from Parkside Elementary School, the Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges, and the Florida Ornithological Society with logistical support from the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge.
Astor: Female, tagged in 2025, from Lake County, Florida nested and presumably fledged chick(s) this season.
Belle River: Female, tagged in 2023, from St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, fledged at least one chick this season. Tagged by Orleans Audubon Society with funding from Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program.
Five kites tracked with funding from the Palm Beach Zoo and Conservation Society through funding from Florida Power and Light, with logistical support from The Palm Beach County Environmental Resources Management department.
Cypress: male, tagged in 2022, from Palm Beach County, Florida nested and fledged one chick this season.
Luckey Lox, female, tagged in 2022, from Palm Beach County, Florida nested and fledged one chick this season.
Luckey Buck: Male, tagged in 2025, from Palm Beach County, Florida nested and fledged one chick this season.
Jupiter: Male, tagged in 2025, from Palm Beach County, Florida nested and fledged two chicks this season.
Martin: Male, tagged in 2025, from Palm Beach County, Florida presumably nested this season.
Nine kites tracked for the Southeastern Working Forest partnership with the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) with funding from International Paper (IP) and the National Fish and Wildlife Federation (NFWF)
Six tracked by ARCI:
Peter’s Creek: Male, tagged in 2021, from Georgetown County, South Carolina. Fledged one chick in 2025.
Simmon’s Creek: Male, tagged in 2023, from Georgetown County, South Carolina. Made it safely back to breeding grounds and most likely had a successful nest.
Snuffbox Canal: Male, tagged in 2023, from McIntosh County, Georgia. Fledged one chick in 2025.
Barrington: Male, tagged in 2023, from McIntosh County, Georgia. Presumably had a successful nest.
Sweet Water: Female, tagged in 2024, from Burke County, Georgia. Presumably had a successful nest.
Townsend: Male, tagged in 2025, from McIntosh County, Georgia. Presumably had a successful nest.
Three tracked by Orleans Audubon Society
Abita Flatwoods: Female, tagged in 2023, from St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana nest failed this season.
White Bluff: Male, tagged in 2024, from Marion County, Mississippi, nest failed this season.
Foxworth: Male, tagged in 2025, from Marion County, Mississippi, fledged one chick this season.
*All captures, banding, and tagging of Swallow-tailed Kites are done safely under current federal, state, and local permits.
Three kites are fit with GPS-satellite transmitters through Microwave Technologies Inc. (Belle River, Simmon’s Creek, and Snuffbox Canal), but most are being tracked through the GSM-cellular network thus, when they are not near cell towers, they cannot upload their data. They only attempt to upload data once a day to save battery power on their solar powered units made by Cellular Tracking Technologies and Ornitela and during these big stretches over mountains, rainforest, and vast wilderness, they are far from a cellular connection. The location data is stored until they are within cell range to upload the stored data.
This is an exciting time as Swallow-tailed Kites take the riskiest “jump” of their lives-across the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes and unfavorable winds can be deadly, and they must take the time to rest and put on fat reserves to handle the unknown risks ahead of them. We have tracked Swallow-tailed Kites on this journey since the late 1990’s. We have seen that a kite can only survive over the ocean without food, water, and rest for three days.
Wishing all Swallow-tailed Kites great tailwinds for a safe migration!
Keep tuned as we will be sharing updates on their migration to South America. Meanwhile, the 2025 Swallow-tailed Kite population monitoring survey period is during the months of July and August. We hope you will report where you are seeing kites to add “your” kites to the U.S. population count. That form can be found here.
This work would not be possible without our dedicated supporters and collaborators. For our current GPS-tracked Swallow-tailed Kites we thank:
American Bird Conservancy (ABC)
The Avian Reconditioning Center for Birds of Prey
Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program
Cellular Tracking Technologies CTT GSM-GPS transmitters
Florida Ornithological Society
Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges
Friends of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge
Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge
Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge
McDaniel Charitable Foundation
Merrit Island Wildlife Association
Microwave Telemetry, Inc. Satellite transmitters
National Fish and Wildlife Federation
Ornitela GSM-GPS transmitters
Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resources Management
Palm Beach Zoo and Conservation Society
Parkside Elementary School, Collier Co. Florida
Sanibel-Captiva Audubon Society
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