Hello Fellow Birders,
I am just new to your site and have been very interested in all of your recent posts on your Swallow-Tailed Kites there in Ohio that have been spotted in various locations in your area. It is really amazing to see that you are actually seeing any Swallow-Tailed Kites there at all as Ohio is way out of their normal range of travel and even more amazing this late in the season! We still have some of our Swallow-Tailed Kites here in Florida and it has been an absolutely incredible season and year here to see our precious Swallow-Tailed Kites and I just thought that I would like to share this last weekends encounters that I had with some of them here and would like to recommend to anyone there in Ohio that if you are coming to Florida sometime soon and would like to experience some of our Magnificent Swallow-Tailed Kites here before they all leave for their wintering ranges in Brazil, Please do come soon because it would be most definitely well worth the trip !
Good Birding,
Steve Petruniak
Daytona Beach,Florida
Volusia County, 32114
Just a Short Report:
This is now the 5 TH consecutive weekend that I have come here to see this
Awesome Swallow-Tailed Kite Spectacular Event, and it still has not disappointed
in the least ! First on Saturday at CR448A- Lake County at the entrance to Lake
Apopka, at the parking lot I spotted a bit later in the day-afternoon flying low
and foraging very fast about a dozen or more Swallow-Tailed Kites moving very
fast from the entrance on back foraging back and forth far in the distance never
coming very close and after about 15 - to 20 minutes they disbursed and quickly
exited and left the area completely ! Most amazingly earlier coming down Jones
RD I saw 4 to 5 Roseate Spoonbills that were down in the canal foraging and
later went up into the farm fields and went into them walking thru picking on the
ground and walked on out of sight ! Later at the bridge over the canal back in
the trail groups of Swallows were swooping all around back and forth over the
bridge. Lots of Towhees were seen and heard & Several Sandhill Cranes were
seen foraging out in the farm fields as well.
On Sunday I started by going over to the The 2nd melon field which has now
been mostly plowed and was full of cattle egrets well over 1000 were reported
by the owner and the field was still being plowed when I was there just past
SMITH's FARRIER driveway on 223. Despite the the heat of the day which had
already started early the Swallow-Tailed Kites arrived just like clockwork around
9:40 AM and started their morning routine of flying into the the now plowed
fields which didn't seem to affect their foraging at all in the least and flying both
high and low occasionally coming right down to the ground to catch some more
of the stink bugs ! There were probably anywhere between 1 to 2 dozen
Swallow-Tailed Kites , way less than originally were seen on previous weekends
but nevertheless impressive ! Later on there were 2 Mississippi Kites that came
into view and the came flying quite close to my position swooping back and forth
a few times and flew very close even right over head ! The Swallow-Tailed Kites
continued to fly all around until about noon time and then completely left the
area ! Just another breathtakingly Spectacular Swallow-Tailed Kite Show !
Later at Field # 3 At BLACK GOLD COMPOST CO. there were no Swallow-Tailed
Kites but looking far out into the distance in the direction of the Field # 1 way
up in the sky with binoculars I could see several Swallow-Tailed Kites flying and
riding the thermals and foraging as well ! Several Kestrels and some Red-
Headed Woodpeckers were spotted along the way. Now at Field # 4 at County
Road 233, after waiting a while at the dead end in the road several Swallow-
Tailed Kites appeared in the sky and were mainly flying at higher altitudes there
were probably 1 to 2 dozen there foraging but only a couple of Swallow-Tailed
Kites actually came down low and foraged at ground level for a while which is a
rare sight now because most of the Swallow-Tailed Kites have left Florida to go
to their wintering fields in Brazil !
Going over to Field # 1 1ocated on route 466, no Swallow-Tailed Kites were
visible there anywhere at all ! So I went back to Field # 4 one last time and
watch several more Swallow-Tailed Kites now flying up very high and fast
working the skies and leaving the area ! It is really quite amazing that there still
are some Swallow-Tailed Kites left this late in the season here so I would highly
recommend to any one who hasn't experienced this arial spectacular yet to
come and see and marvel at these arial acrobats the very Graceful- ever-flying
Swallow-Tailed Kites in the very short time left !
The Swallow-Tailed Kite Melon fields are located on route 466. You can get there
by going on the turnpike to the Wildwood exit, to route 301. Go north to route
466, turn left and go about 2 1/2 miles down 466. The site is on route 466, 2.5
miles west of 301.
The 2nd melon field that I reported recently: from
301/466 - drive .9 miles to cr209. Turn left, or south on 209 for 1.7 miles.
Turn left, or east, on cr223 (there is NO sign at this intersection), you will see
the birds from 209 to your left. The field is just past SMITH's FARRIER
driveway on 223
The 3rd melon field in Sumter County which also had dozens of
STKIs.
This field is on CR 237. Drive 3.7 miles WEST of 466/301(Oxford), turn left,
south,
on CR 237. You will see BLACK GOLD COMPOST CO.
Field # 4 is located within a half a mile or so of the Original Melon Fields . The
Original site is on route 466, 2.5 miles west of 301. So Continue on to County
Road 233. Go right then You can go down this road which dead ends- the grass
field is on the left.
Please Enjoy these Graceful Flying- Swallow-Tailed Kites in the very short time
left now while they are still here !
Steve Petruniak
Daytona Beach, Florida
Volusia County, 32114
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