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| Left to right: Grace Campbell (ARCI, volunteer), Ken Meyer (ARCI), Larry Woodward (Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge, and Jeff Gleason (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). |
ARCI has
some exciting news to share! With the generosity of many wonderful partners,
both old and new, we were able to deploy GPS-equipped cell-phone transmitters
on four breeding adult Swallow-tailed Kites, and our colleague Dr. Jennifer
Coulson, President of Orleans Audubon, tagged an additional kite in Louisiana!
This brings
our fleet of remotely-tracked Swallow-tailed Kites to 16 across the
southeastern United States. We are grateful to all the organizations and individuals
who make it possible to continue our long-term research to understand the ecology
and conservation needs of Swallow-tailed Kites.
Each tagged
kite will produce an enormous amount of highly-accurate, time-stratified, and
unbiased location data that can be used to address many of the most important
questions about the species’ conservation biology, including:
- nesting locations
- home-range and core activity areas
- pre-migration communal roost sites
- timing of seasonal movements
- migration corridors and habitats
- site fidelity
- exposure to potential natural and anthropogenic threats (e.g., severe weather, climate change, drought, habitat loss and degradation, contaminants)
By using the
kites’ data to answer the above questions, we can directly shape science-based
management, conservation, and policy for this spectacular species. These data will
enable local land managers to identify important nesting, roosting, and
foraging locations for Swallow-tailed Kites in their respective management
areas. There’s an added benefit as well – managing for kites creates an “umbrella
effect” where the plants and animals using the same habitats as the kites
flourish too.
Let’s
introduce you to our Class of 2019:
Suwannee
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| ARCI's Ken Meyer and Gina Kent remove Suwannee from the mist-net. Photo by Nan Soistman. |
Suwannee, a
male, comes from a fantastic landscape for nesting Swallow-tailed Kites – the Lower
Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge in Dixie County, Florida. We are grateful to the
Friends of the Lower Suwannee NWR and the National Audubon Society for provided
all the funding needed to track Suwannee. We were joined by Nan Soistman from
Sunrise Wildlife Rehabilitation and Einstein, their educational Great Horned Owl.
Suwannee’s tracking story will be
featured in upcoming publications in the international online conservation
magazines National Audubon and bioGraphic (California Academy of
Sciences).
Sanibel
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| ARCI's Ken Meyer and Gina Kent fit Sanibel with a GPS-equipped cell phone (GSM) transmitter. Photo by Janet and Aaron Kirk. |
Tracking a kite
nesting on an island is a first for us! Quick action, cooperation among old
friends from several outstanding organizations, and a lot of love-of-kites made
the tagging of this kite possible. Sanibel was captured on Sanibel Island in
Lee County, Florida, thanks to the skilled assistance, logistical support, and
land access by the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF). We were
joined by Bre Frankel and Great Horned Owl, Mina, of the Clinic for the
Rehabilitation of Wildlife, Inc. (CROW)
The San-Cap Audubon Society is graciously funding Sanibel’s transmitter and tracking data in memory of their late president and dear friend of Sanibel conservation and ARCI, Mr. Jim Griffith.
Palm Beach County Environmental Resource Management
(PBC-ERM) Female
Palm Beach County Environmental Resource Management
(PBC-ERM) Male
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| Melissa Tolbert (PBC-ERM) prepares to release PCB-ERM Male. Photo by Mike Rogers. |
These birds
are the first representatives from Palm Beach County, Florida! A big thanks to Margo McKnight and
the Palm Beach Zoo for generously funding these two kites. We also thank Melissa
Tolbert and David Witmer of the Palm Beach County Environmental Resource Management
team for nest finding, monitoring, permission and logistical support. Nicole
Jones with the Avian Reconditioning Center (ARC) and Gordon, ARC’s Great Horned
Owl, were there for our first capture. For our second capture, we were joined
by Callie Coxon and Hino the owl from the Palm Beach Zoo.
Further thanks to Carol and Scott McCorkle and Bill
Hammer of Avian Recondition Center (ARC) for additional Swallow-tailed Kite trapping
attempts at the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area, another area we would
like to target for kite-tracking.
Ponchitolawa
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| Tom Coulson holds Ponchitolawa. |
This adult male Swallow-tailed Kite was captured near Covington, Louisiana,
by our colleague and dear friend Jennifer Coulson, Orleans Audubon Society, and
her husband, Tom (pictured). Dr. Coulson shares Ponchitolawa’s data with us
(along with Bayou Vincent, Lacombe, and Hobolichitto Creek) as part of a long
standing (over 20 years!) and cherished collaboration between she and ARCI.
The Coulson’s rigorous research has contributed greatly to
everyone’s understanding of kite conservation biology and management needs,
including continuous monitoring of threats and population changes.
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| PCB-ERM Female flies away after release. |
Wishing all the Swallow-tailed Kites a safe migration full of
plentiful food sources!
