Hello,
I'm so happy this kite is sticking around and giving some of you a chance to see it. Even here in Florida where they are around March thru August, we still get birders that drive across the state to see large feeding flocks of these entertaining kites.
Here is how Pete Dunne, David Sibley and Clay Sutton opened their section on this kite in their book "Hawks in Flight", 2nd Edition:
"Few would disagree that the Swallow-tailed Kite is the most graceful flier of any North American raptor. This distinctive aerial predator will glide and float over the canopy on wings that cancel gravity and suspend time, riding the lightest breeze to snatch dragonflies from the air or pluck prey from treetops and consume it on the wing." ...
"Some might argue that the Swallow-tailed Kite is also the continent's most beautiful bird. Elegant, almost rakish in design, it dresses formally in black-and-white attire (tails and all)."
On that point about "cancel gravity and suspend time, riding the lightest breeze" .... This kite has a wingspan two inches "longer" than a Red-tailed Hawk but the Red-tail weighs 2 1/2 times as much as the kite--the kite weighs less than a pound. That gives it very light "wing loading" for you pilots out there or those familiar with the physics behind flight. That's why it floats so effortlessly.
Enjoy nature!
Bob Stalnaker
Longwood, FL
On Monday, August 18, 2014 5:29 PM, John Troyer Jr <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
The kite put on a splendid show for us this afternoon. It was a lifer for
my wife and I. It is an absolutely wonderful bird.
Blessings to you,
John Troyer Jr
Whispering Wind Bordeauxs & Mastiffs
"Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." Luke 6; 36
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