WILD FLORIDA
SWALLOW-TAILED KITE OF FLORIDA FAVORITE RAPTOR SPECIES OF SUNSHINE STATE BIRDERS Written by: William R. Cox
A medium-sized raptor, the swallow-tailed kite is 23 inches long, with a wingspan of 4 feet.
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pers, birds, lizards, green and brown anoles, tree frogs and snakes. They pluck prey from the air, and from the leaves and branches of trees and shrubs. Many times, they feed on their prey while flying. They drink and bathe by skimming the surface of the water like a swallow.
If you are lucky enough to observe the swallow-tailed kite, you will realize that it is undoubtedly one of the world’s most beautiful birds. It is the favorite raptor species of Sunshine State birders. This medium-sized raptor is 23 inches long, with a wingspan of 4 feet. It has a white body, black back, wings and tail. The large wings are slender and the tail is long and deeply forked.
Nests are usually placed high in a 60-to-130-foot pine or cypress tree located in flatwoods or hardwood bottomlands. The platform nests are substantially made of sticks and twigs lined with moss, lichens, pine needles, leaves, other fine material and feathers. The birds individually carry approximately 200 pieces of material to their nest. This may require 800 miles of flight from start to finish of a nest.
Swallow-tailed kites forage in pine flatwoods, mixed pine, pine scrub, hardwood forests, hardwood swamps, cypress swamps, mesic hammocks, agricultural environments, marshes and wet prairies. I’ve been photographing these amazing raptors throughout Florida for 30 years. When they make their many turns while foraging, in proper lighting you can get a glimpse of the metallic green-blue surface of their back and upper wings.
Courtship includes a display of curving chases mainly over water. The male brings nesting material and food to the female. They lay two to four white eggs, marked with brown, in the nest. Occasionally, they nest in loose colonies of a few pairs. The female and male incubate the eggs for 28 days. The hatchlings are semi-altricial 1, which means they are immobile, downy with eyes open and are fed by the parents. They fledge in 36 to 42 days after hatching.
These raptors forage on a variety of large insects and small vertebrates. I’ve seen them prey on dragonflies, grasshop-
Before departing for their wintering grounds in Columbia and Venezuela, swallow-tailed kites stage at amazing
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PHOTOS ON THIS AND OPPOSITE PAGE BY WILLIAM R. COX
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he swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides forficatus) is a migrant and breeding resident of Florida from late February through September. Its nesting season lasts from late March through June, and it is a rare breeder in the Florida Keys. This graceful raptor provides an awesome site as it flies and glides above the treetops in search of food.