![]() Because they migrate to South America, they aren’t here year-round. Then I discovered bird photography, and now the birds outnumber the cats and turtles! Browse the links below to see birds and other critters photographed around Central Florida.Every spring around March/April, Florida birders get really excited to see the first Swallow-tailed Kites come through. My blog started as a daily record of wildlife and plants in my backyard garden, plus snapshots of our cats and Rich's favorite turtles. I found a great blog about Swallow-tailed Kite Migration that documents the flight patterns of kites that have been radio-tagged for research. I find myself fascinated with the long distances that birds cross every year in their migratory patterns. ![]() First they cross the Gulf of Mexico and land in the Yucatan Peninsula, then they follow Central America and cross through South America on their way to the middle of Brazil. They are building their strength in order to fly south to Brazil for the winter. The birds fly off to open fields, swooping down to eat grasshoppers and other bugs. Let’s Go Fly a Kite!Īll too soon, the birds had left the trees and the waters were fairly empty. Then Michael offered me up as gator bait and my very own father agreed to the plan! We had such fun laughing as the birds flew around us. They also needed to poop, and they didn’t mind doing so very close to our boat! The motto of the day became “Don’t Poop on Me!” as Kathy donned her poop-protector. But as Kathy often reminded us, these birds had just woken up, and they had more than breakfast on their minds. I love how the bird’s mouth is still open and water is coming out of her mouth as she comes out of her dive.Īs the birds circled overhead, it was easy to look up and gawk. But then I’d gasp when I got to a good one… Drink Up! I probably deleted half my images because they were totally out of focus. It’s tough to focus on fast-moving birds against a busy background of trees! Nor do the birds exactly give you a three-second warning. The really challenging part of the photography that morning was capturing the kites as they swooped down to drink from the river. So I pulled out my iPhone and took a little video. But I realized that a single image couldn’t tell the story of this magical place. Of course, we photographers started going crazy with our long lenses, trying to capture birds in flight. They start to “kettle”, or fly in circles as they catch the thermals. ![]() Then the tree will come alive with dozens of birds all flying around. The Sun RisesĪs the wind picks up, one bird will fly down to the river below to get a drink. You can’t see the birds well in the picture, but each of those trees is covered in birds. Then I put my wide-angle on my camera to photograph the still river and the trees. I took a few shots, but a panorama would have really been the way to capture the sheer number of birds. The kites stay in the trees till well after sunrise. A picture just doesn’t do the scene justice. It’s simply amazing to putter down the river in a boat and see hundreds of these birds sleeping in the trees above you. They congregate in large groups as they band together and fatten up for the trip. By this point in the summer, the juveniles are grown, and the birds are getting ready to migrate down to South America for the winter. They visit the state to nest and raise their babies. Swallow-tailed Kites are summer residents of Florida. With their wings and tails spread, they really do look like kites! I had the song “Let’s Go Fly a Kite!” stuck in my head for days after our trip. I was a little land-locked until my good friend Michael decided to play captain! We took my dad, Jim, and Kathy along, and we had a great morning. I’d seen photos of these fun birds in previous years, but their roost site requires a boat to access. Last weekend I got to visit a Swallow-tailed Kite roost.
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