Swallow-tailed kite
Perhaps the most graceful flying bird on the East Coast, the swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides forficatus) returns to the northern part of its breeding range in Florida and adjacent Gulf Coast and southeast Atlantic Coast states in late February/late March. (Some individuals remain year-round in Central and South America: migratory individuals sometimes travel 10,000 miles to reach breeding habitat in North America. Swallow-tailed kits often uses Spanish moss in constructing its tree-top nests, and feed on insects, lizards, bats and other small vertebrates, often remaining in flight during feeding. They are buoyant and agile fliers, and I had not seen any so far this year in Florida until today, when we spotted 3 birds circling far away. Eventually they appeared overhead and made several swooping circles above us, seemingly looking at us and tilting their deeply forked tails to bank towards a flying insect or to move closer to investigate something of potential interest in a tree-top. Fortunately, I had readied my camera and lens for a possible birds-in-flight opportunity, so when the bird miraculoousy reappered overhead, I was ready and was alble to zoo in and follow them, struggling at times to avoid falling backwards as I aimed my long lens upward.
Red Bug Slough; Sarasota, FL
(15 March, 2024)
Swallow-tailed kite
Perhaps the most graceful flying bird on the East Coast, the swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides forficatus) returns to the northern part of its breeding range in Florida and adjacent Gulf Coast and southeast Atlantic Coast states in late February/late March. (Some individuals remain year-round in Central and South America: migratory individuals sometimes travel 10,000 miles to reach breeding habitat in North America. Swallow-tailed kits often uses Spanish moss in constructing its tree-top nests, and feed on insects, lizards, bats and other small vertebrates, often remaining in flight during feeding. They are buoyant and agile fliers, and I had not seen any so far this year in Florida until today, when we spotted 3 birds circling far away. Eventually they appeared overhead and made several swooping circles above us, seemingly looking at us and tilting their deeply forked tails to bank towards a flying insect or to move closer to investigate something of potential interest in a tree-top. Fortunately, I had readied my camera and lens for a possible birds-in-flight opportunity, so when the bird miraculoousy reappered overhead, I was ready and was alble to zoo in and follow them, struggling at times to avoid falling backwards as I aimed my long lens upward.
Red Bug Slough; Sarasota, FL
(15 March, 2024)