Rare Swallow Tailed Kite Spotted in Alabama

by: Steve Kynard, It Happens in Alabama

Today, July 11 is my oldest friend's birthday. Ray Hearon turned 65 today. He lives in Selma, Alabama. I saw this as a great opportunity to take a ride, on my Harley Davidson, and go see my dear friend, on his special day.

When I visit, we always hang out in his shop ( man cave ) and come out occasionally to look around. On one of those "look around's",  this morning I spotted a bird I had never seen. I asked Ray what kind of bird is that. He said he didn't know. Now Ray and I have been hunting and fishing together since we were teenagers. We thought we knew all the critters in this part of the world but this one had us stumped.

I called Ray's son, Jason Hearon, and  described the bird to him. Jason is pretty good with this sort of thing. A short time later Jason texted me the answer and a picture. It was a Swallow Tailed Kite. In just a short time, Ray and I saw two more circling close by.  This was a Pretty cool birthday present to see these beautiful birds for the first time.

In doing my research on this bird, I found out a lot of interesting information. The Swallow Tailed Kite is also known by Fork-tailed Hawk, Swallow-tailed Hawk, Snake Hawk or Fish Hawk. It is highly unusual to see these birds in Alabama because they rarely come north of the Florida panhandle.

Here is a more scientific write up, from  Audubon:

The Swallow Tailed Kite is "our most beautiful bird of prey, striking in its shape, its pattern, and its extraordinarily graceful flight. Hanging motionless in the air, swooping and gliding, rolling upside down and then zooming high in the air with scarcely a motion of its wings, the Swallow-tailed Kite is a joy to watch. At one time it was common in summer over much of the southeast, but today it is found mostly in Florida and a few other areas of the deep south."

Conservation status	Formerly more widespread in southeast, north as far as Minnesota, but disappeared from many areas in early 20th century. Current population apparently stable.
Family	Hawks and Eagles
Habitat	Wooded river swamps. Requires tall trees for nesting and nearby open country with abundant prey. In North America found mostly in open pine woods near marsh or prairie, cypress swamps, other riverside swamp forest. In tropics, also found in lowland rain forest and mountain cloud forest.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology calls the Swallow Tailed kite “the coolest bird on the planet.” They went on to say,

"With its deeply forked tail and bold black-and-white plumage, it is unmistakable in the summer skies above swamps of the Southeast. Flying with barely a wingbeat and maneuvering with twists of its incredible tail, it chases dragonflies or plucks frogs, lizards, snakes, and nestling birds from tree branches. After rearing its young in a treetop nest, the kite migrates to wintering grounds in South America."

I am very happy to have shared the sighting of these special birds on Ray's special birthday.


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