It’s time to keep your eyes to the sky because Swallow-tailed Kites are being reported in peninsular Florida! Are you as excited as we are? The South American summer still lifts the wings of the seven kites we are tracking, however, so it will be some time yet before you have a chance to catch sight of a special Swallow-tailed Kite sporting a small antenna. Birds being seen from Florida to Brazil, that’s roughly 5,000 miles of Swallow-tailed Kites pushing northward across the planet.
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| Locations of seven satellite-GPS tracked Swallow-tailed Kites on 18 Feb 2016. |
Now in Colombia, MIA has widened the gap and is about 600 miles ahead of the other kites and is approaching the Andes. The mountain range is a treacherous obstacle Swallow-tailed Kites must pass over twice each year on their northbound and southbound migrations.
Bullfrog, Lacombe, Pace, Gulf Hammock, and Strong River have slowed and are using an area within 130 miles of one another along the border between northeastern Peru and Brazil. This equatorial climate zone is moving into the wettest and hottest time of the year.
Trailing by 650 miles is Palmetto, still in the state of Rondonia, Brazil.
Don’t forget to submit your sightings and photos to our database! We haven’t received any Swallow-tailed Kite sightings for 2016 yet. Will you be our first?
Thank you to Subaru of Gainesville for sponsoring the Swallow-tailed Kite migration blog! Want to be a part of the Swallow-tailed Kite migration story?
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