Lynn Favorite Bird of Florida: The Swallow Tailed Kite

Lynn commented on a post the other day and said her Florida favorite bird was the Swallow Tailed Kite, so I took a look.  It is a beautiful bird.

There are some that live all year in the Amazon, but there are a lot that come to Florida to mate and raise young. The high Cyprus trees there are their favorite.

There is an episode on Youtube about them in Palm Beach County (link)

They are raptors and were long known as Swallow Tailed Eagles, before being reclassified as kites. They have been tracked and may migrate as many as 10,000 miles a year. Which makes the ones that live all year round in the amazon sound kind of lazy.

Beautiful birds, they each lizards, insects and small snakes, so we like them.

A flock of Swallow Tailed Kites at Sunset on Sanibel Island.