Croom, a male Swallow-tailed Kite, was tagged as an adult on 30 May 2011 on private property in Hernando County Florida, six miles southwest of the Croom tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest. We do not know if he nested that year. Croom departed Florida on 6 August 2011, flying first from Cape Sable (extreme southern Florida at the seaward tip of the Everglades) to western Cuba, then to the Yucatán Peninsula.
Check back next week for an update on Croom's 2012/2013 migration and his current location. The headwinds were strong this past February as Croom flew across the Gulf to get to his Florida territory, but he did make it back to Florida safely.
As we catch up with Croom's current status, we look forward to sharing more natural history stories from his life. We are also working on getting a photo of him soon!