![]() Please be extremely careful not to disturb or flush any roosting kites. It is best to locate and count the kites before 10am. Others may know of or suspect good observation locations within driving or paddling range, where you can search for roosting and foraging kites. Some of you may be able to see kites right in your neighborhood. This is why it is so valuable to have YOUR help in counting Swallow-tailed Kites during this same time period (15 July to 5 August, 2021_. However, we know that we are missing kites that are NOT using these large roosts as pre-migration staging areas. Horstįrom years of conducting these carefully designed aerial photo surveys, we are confident that we are probably counting most of the Swallow-tailed Kites that nest and hatch in Florida each breeding season, and at least two-thirds of the individuals associated with nests across the seven southeastern states that represent the current United States breeding range of this species. Knowing the most productive places to feed allows the kites to gain weight rapidly and prepare themselves for their imminent 5,000+ mile southbound migration, which begins with a very dangerous 450 to 600-mile flight over open ocean to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. ![]() In these ways, individual kites benefit by having a safe place to sleep (more eyes and ears to detect predators) and also from what they can learn from each other about good foraging opportunities over the surrounding landscape, which may shift in location over periods of days and even hours. These night roosts also serve as jumping-off points for daily foraging flights, for which Swallow-tailed Kites usually travel in small flocks. Pre-migration roosts are places where Swallow-tailed Kites gather for the night after their nesting responsibilities are over, but prior to departure on their southbound migration. These roosts, some of which hold up to 4,000 birds, provide an extremely rare and valuable opportunity for long-term population monitoring of this population. Form to report Swallow-tailed Kites – 15 July to 5 August, 2021Įvery year since 1989, ARCI has conducted systematic aerial surveys to count Swallow-tailed Kites at more than 15 large pre-migration roosts during a 10-day window in late July.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |