In Florida? Participate in the 2015 Swallow-tailed Kite population surveys

The Avian Research and Conservation Institute invites you to participate in Florida’s Swallow-tailed Kite population monitoring surveys for 2015. At this time of year, Swallow-tailed Kites are gathering in foraging aggregations and communal night roosts, where they gain behavioral information from each other that helps them find swarms of insects and other prey to put on weight rapidly and prepare themselves for migration. These roosts are extremely sensitive places for Swallow-tailed Kites and some reach well over 1,000 birds during this brief but vitally important time of year. 

ARCI’s synchronized surveys, which began in their present form 26 years ago – in 1989 – have become a very important tool for monitoring trends in the U. S. population. We systematically photograph roosts on the same dates in late July, the period when numbers have consistently reached their peak. A recent three-year collaborative project with biologists in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas found that 90% of the kites simultaneously observed were in Florida roosts. This year, for the first time, we want to synchronize public sighting reports with Florida’s systematic photo-counts on the 3 most important days. Citizen Scientists can play a very important role in this statewide effort to track changes in our national Swallow-tailed Kite population in Florida.

Participation is easy. Just report the date, time, location and number of Swallow-tailed Kites and what they were doing when you saw them on these three days:

22 July
25 July
28 July

Enter your data on one of these online forms depending on your location. The forms are responsive to your smart device, so you can even report from the field! We recommend you bookmark these forms for easy access.

Go here for sightings in North Florida
Go here for sightings in Central Florida
Go here for sightings in South Florida

The most valuable Swallow-tailed Kite sightings will be those in the mornings from sunrise to 10:00 a.m. The birds you report may be perched or flying, but please specify. We encourage you to boat or kayak down a river, get out on your favorite lake or trail through a swamp forest (kites often roost near water), or just report kites as you see them anywhere, including from your own backyard. Above all, a bird's well-being comes first; if a bird appears agitated or takes flight, you are too close.

We look forward to hearing about your Swallow-tailed Kite sightings and including them in this Florida-wide synchronized population survey. All contributors will be acknowledged on ARCI’s website.

Roseate Terns being tracked with the smallest-ever satellite transmitter

The Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) is a medium-sized seabird with narrow breeding distributions along both the eastern and western coasts of the North Atlantic Ocean and throughout the greater Caribbean region. From 2007 to 2009, Mostello et al. (2014, Seabird) recovered six geo-locators from Roseate Terns tagged in Massachusetts breeding colonies that identified possible migration stop-over areas around Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Otherwise, very little is known about the species’ biology outside of the breeding season, when most mortality probably occurs (Nisbet, 2014, The Birds of North America Online). 

Adult Roseate Tern with 2.2 gram solar-powered satellite transmitter attached with a backpack harness.
 [photo credit: Julia Howey]

The western Atlantic breeding population is considered endangered and declining (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2010, Caribbean and North Atlantic Roseate Tern, 5-year review). The causes of colony fragmentation, local fluctuations in numbers, and steady regional declines are unknown, and no solutions have been identified. The study of migration, stopover, and wintering behavior of Roseate Terns has been handicapped by the lack of sufficiently small devices that can provide tracking data without retrieval (e.g., satellite transmitters versus geo-locators or GPS loggers). Because Roseate Terns weigh only about 100-115 grams (Gochfeld et al., 1998, The Birds of North America Online), tracking units must weigh less than 3 grams to comply with the established limit of 3% of body weight.

On 24 June 2015, we deployed solar-powered satellite transmitters (PTTs) on two adult Roseate Terns captured in a nesting colony (~200 pairs) on East Seal Dog Island in the eastern British Virgin Islands (18.506N x -64.432W degrees). These transmitters, prototypes designed, built, and donated by Microwave Telemetry, Inc.(www.microwavetelemetry.com), weighed just 2.2 grams and were attached with a carefully-fitted backpack harness. The transmitters represent about 2% of the terns’ body weight, well below the 3% limit, less than the weight of a U.S. penny, and only 11% of the average weight of a Roseate Tern egg (Gochfeld et al. 1998). 

Photo credit: Juila Howey

In the first two weeks of tracking, the tagged terns covered an area of at least 180 square kilometers within the British Virgin Islands and the transmitters performed extremely well. We expect the tracking data to begin documenting dispersal within the next two to three months. Then, if all goes as hoped for, we will watch and share the news as the southbound migration of these Roseate Terns unfolds and lead us to their wintering destinations. 

It is a privilege to be part of this exciting, ground-breaking effort. ARCI is grateful to Microwave Telemetry, Inc., and particularly to Paul and Julia Howey, for producing such valuable tracking tools and for donating the transmitters, paying for data acquisition, and contributing to the fieldwork. We also thank our project collaborators, Susan Zaluski (Executive Director, Jost Van Dykes Preservation Society, susan@jvdps.org), and Louise Soanes (Research Fellow, University of Roehampton, Louise.Soanes@liverpool.ac.uk), for involving us in their ongoing research on Roseate Terns and other seabirds in the eastern Caribbean; and to Captain Luverne Peterkin for safely conveying us to and from the study site. This work was conducted as part of a larger project funded by the Darwin Initiative, entitled “BVI seabird recovery planning programme” (DPLUS0035).

A tracking first for Reddish Egrets

Ding #1 was fitted with a solar-powered, GPS-equipped satellite transmitter on 20 June 2014 at the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, Florida.  For nearly a year, Ding #1's movements centered on the bird's foraging range on Sanibel Island, an area near the popular Wildlife Drive, with only occasional flights longer than five miles (See Ding #1's animated tracking map).

In early May of 2015, Ding #1 started to make day trips to Pine Island, and, within a week, moved into the shallows of Little Pine Island to the northeast. On 15 May 2015, Ding #1 started moving north, very far north. Ding #1's tracking data shows the bird stayed overnight on Anna Maria Island, then continued up the Gulf coast for two days, finally settling into the Big Bend Wildlife Management Area just north of Steinhatchee, Florida, a total move of approximately 250 miles. 

Movements of Ding #1 showing the first-ever long-distance move of a Reddish Egret documented by satellite telemetry.

For 25 days, Ding #1 foraged along the remote tidal flats of the Tide Swamp Unit of the Big Bend Wildlife Management Area and each night flew five miles to the south to roost on an offshore island. On 9 June 2015 Ding left his morning roost and started a southbound track back to familiar ground near Pine Island. Ding #1 spent a night on an offshore island west of Pine Island and made his way back to the Wildlife Loop Drive near the observation tower the next morning.

Ding #1 with backpack transmitter
[photo credit: Jim Bennight]

This is the first documented long-distance seasonal movement (over 30 miles) of any Reddish Egret tracked in Florida. We are are eager to continue watching Ding #1's data as this will help us continue to understand his month-long foray to Florida's Nature Coast. This is an excellent example of the power of satellite telemetry to reveal the unseen lives of birds.