With the interest and persistence of Mr. David Ware of Parkside Elementary School in Collier County, ARCI is tracking a Swallow-tailed Kite from the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge. The school raised enough money to be matched with a generous donation from the Friends of the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges as well as the Florida Ornithological Society.
In June of 2025, we were successful at capturing an adult male Swallow-tailed Kite! The students from Parkside Elementary School voted naming him “Suwannee Scout”. The students will now join us in learning about the movements of this Swallow-tailed Kite from breeding home ranges, pre-migratory destinations, foraging areas, stopover sites, migratory routes, and winter activity ranges. A variety of lessons on geography, culture, and biology are now applied to this tracking data.
After spending the spring and summer on the Lower Suwannee NWR in Levy County, Florida, Suwannee Scout has left Florida. He started south on 10 August and by 12 August he crossed the Florida Keys and made his way to Cuba. Twenty-six hours later he made landfall south of Cancun, Mexico. Once on the Yucatan, he took his time, resting and replenishing after the non-stop, over-water crossing. Currently, he has checked in from Colombia, just prior to crossing the Andes Mountains.
Thanks to the staff at the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge for facilitating our access to the beautiful refuge to make this possible. Thank you to the staff at the Avian Reconditioning Center, especially Nicole Jones for joining the trap team with Gracie, the Great Horned Owl. Funding from the Friends of the Lower Suwannee and Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuges and the Florida Ornithological Society were greatly appreciated. Thanks to the Parkside Elementary School and the Collier County school district not only for their great fundraising abilities, but for their interest in this project and for voting on a great name for Suwannee Scout. And a big shout out to Mr. David Ware of Parkside Elementary School to get the ball rolling on this collaboration.
ARCI tracks 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, and how they survive throughout the Southeastern States. We are grateful for our funders and project partners for making this research possible.
You can report kite sightings here:
All banding and tagging is done by the Avian Research and Conservation Institute under the current federal, state, and local banding permits.
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