9/24/12: Swallow-tailed Kite 2012 Southbound Migration
Last month, when we wrote about the start of this year’s southbound Swallow-tailed Kite migration (Swallow Tailed Kites Tallied at Roosts and Tracked by Satellite), several of our satellite-tracked birds had yet to make the risky 700 km over-water flight from the U.S. to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. We are happy to report that all 13 tagged kites safely reached land by August 25th, just before tropical storm Isaac swept across the Florida Keys, and are continuing their 8,000 km journey to South America. Watch for an update soon on where they end up spending the northern winter.
This map shows the 2012
southbound migration of the 13 satellite-tracked Swallow-tailed Kites.
(ARCI’s
collaborators are Orleans Audubon Society and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.)
