8/10/12: Swallow-tailed Kite 2012 Roost Surveys
We recently completed the 2012 surveys of Swallow-tailed
Kite pre-migration roosts in Florida. The good news is that our counts have
been consistent the last several years, at least suggesting that there is no
apparent decline at this time. We will continue to watch the 5,000 mile
migrations of 13 satellite-tracked kites unfold over the next few weeks. Half
are already in Latin America, the leader just entering Colombia. The rest
remain in the U.S., yet to face the quickly-changing winds and emerging storms
of the Gulf of Mexico, Florida Straits, Yucatan Channel, and Caribbean Sea.
This is the 24th year that ARCI has monitored the pre-migration roosts of
Swallow-tailed Kites in Florida. We began by counting a single
aggregation west of Lake Okeechobee that still peaks at over 3,000 birds each
year. This roost remains the largest of nine that total nearly 7,000 annually.
In most of the 24 years, our surveys have been funded by contributions,
not grants. The exception, supported by USFWS, was a collaborative study from
2009 to 2011 by ARCI and partners in six other states (see Programs). Our
goal was to refine our monitoring methods and size estimates of the national
population.
