Swallow-tailed Kite Migration: MIA races for the Andes, Bluff still in idle

Friday, February 13, 2015

MIA races for the Andes, Bluff still in idle

All but two of our seven GPS/satellite-tagged Swallow-tailed Kites are moving their way north to the U.S. Their locations spread almost 2,000 miles across Brazil, Peru and Colombia. The four birds that wintered the farthest south in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, have leap-frogged the others and are now ahead of the pack.

Swallow-tailed Kite Northbound migration 2015. Tracks show movements from 1/20/15 - 2/9/15.
© Avian Research and Conservation Institute

MIA is in the lead in Putumayo, Colombia. His views are about to change from expansive green rainforests to the peaks of the Colombian Andes.

Several hundred miles behind are Day and Gulf Hammock in Loreto, Peru, a sparsely populated region covered with wide river flood plains. The prey diversity of this rich rainforest is advantageous to the migrating kites. Notice how the tracks of MIA, Day and Gulf Hammock look like curly straws in this area – they obviously couldn’t resist slowing down here to plump up on some high calorie road food.

Pace and Palmetto are 115 miles apart in Mato Grosso, Brazil. As Palmetto pressed north, she passed within 20 miles of her mate, Bluff, who has yet to leave his winter range. This is the first nesting pair of Swallow-tailed Kites that has ever been tracked with GPS/satellite-transmitters; make sure you keep an eye on them!

PearlMS remains in Rondonia, Brazil. Day passed right through her winter range on 22 January. Wonder if they foraged together for a day?

Fly on!

Avian Research and Conservation Institute

Once seen along the Mississippi River as far north as Minnesota, the Swallow-tailed Kite's range is now just a third its historic size. In the last 40 years, up to 80% of formerly common bird species have declined.

ARCI works to develop management techniques for these at-risk birds, but we must apply them now, before their recovery becomes impossible.

Since 1996, we have used satellite telemetry to study the ecology of Swallow-tailed Kites, including the 10,000 mile migration they make each year to the humid plains of Brazil and back to the lowlands of the southeast U.S.

Avian Research and Conservation Institute (ARCI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has gained attention and respect for difficult, problem-solving research on rare and imperiled birds.

Learn more at www.arcinst.org