Cypress, from Palm Beach County, Florida, is the first of the GPS-tracked Swallow-tailed Kites to return to the United States! He arrived in Louisiana on the 2March 2026 and spent the night on the Pearl River.
Prior to that, his over-water crossing started in Central America between Panama and Honduras days before. There is a week-long gap in the data upload of his movements between 21 February when he was in Panama and 28 February when he was off the coast of Quintana Roo, Mexico. We can see that he did not rest on the north tip of the Yucatán peninsula as most Swallow-tailed Kites do. Instead, he skirted the coast before taking the tailwind north in the early morning hours on 1 March. The wind eventually carried him northwest across the Gulf where he made landfall south of New Orleans within the Mississippi River Delta.
Since arriving, Cypress has made daily progress east and overland towards his Palm Beach County, Florida breeding grounds. We expect him to arrive on 10 March.
This tracking project would not be possible without our partnerships with the Palm Beach Zoo and Conservation Society (and its long-time sponsor Florida Power and Light) and Palm Beach County Environmental Resources Management.
Welcome back Cypress!
We saw our first swallow-tail kite soaring over our house in North Palm Beach County on March 5th 🙂 And, then two soaring a couple days later. Always exciting to see them return.
Amazing flight
Awesome! Ive been curious about these birds migratory patterns.