Swallow-tailed kites thrive in managed forests

By Jennifer Coulson, Emily Jo Williams and Jeremy Poirier

Silver Creek, a swallow-tailed kite rescued after falling from a nest, was rehabilitated and fixed with a transmitter to follow her migration. (Photo by Dr. Jennifer Coulson)

Swallow-tailed kites are special and anybody who has seen one knows it.

They might not know what exactly they have seen, but they are going to Google it and find out. The swallow-tailed kite has long, pointed wings and a long forked tail. The body and head are white while the wings and tail are black. When the sun shines on the kite’s head it appears to glow.

When this bird of prey flies by, its beauty and 4-foot wingspan command attention. That’s what makes them such a great gateway to conservation and the promotion of sustainable forestry practices.

Swallow-tailed kites provide opportunities to connect people who own and manage working forests — sustainably managed, privately owned U.S. forestlands — with those who know how to manage forests to conserve wildlife.

Added to the “wow” factor of the kite’s appearance is its aerial lifestyle. It hunts mostly flying insects as well as eats, bathes and drinks on the wing. It is also a long-distance migrant, traveling 10,000 miles round-trip each year between the nesting grounds in the southeastern United States and the wintering grounds in southern Brazil.

Sustainable forestry is helping to save the swallow-tailed kite.

Mature Forests?

Twenty years ago, experts working to increase kite numbers thought these birds needed vast tracts of mature forested wetlands, such as those found on refuges and national parks. We now know this is only part of the picture.

A team of scientists from Orleans Audubon Society (OAS) and Avian Research and Conservation Institute (ARCI) are following individual kites using remote tracking devices which they place on the bird’s back. The tracks of these kites show the habitats they are using. A healthy percentage of these habitats are privately owned working forests. The fact of the matter is swallow-tailed kites hunt over, roost in and nest in working forests of the southeastern United States.

Working forests are especially important because they provide easy hunting opportunities for kites, and food demands are highest when adults are feeding hungry nestlings. Parents travel to planted pine forests, for example, to find everything from beetles to wasp nests.

During the 2024 nesting season, tracks of the “Abita Flatwoods” female provide a real life example of the physical effort it takes to raise a family and the role working forests can play. OAS captured and tagged this kite in 2023 in St. Tammany Parish near her nest on the Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve. It is owned by The Nature Conservancy.

This kite traveled to a vast area of planted pine forests that was 6 miles from her nest once to twice daily to catch food for her young. For a kite to spend that much energy and visit a site repeatedly, suggests the area must have meant a big payoff in terms of food. She and her mate raised two healthy young.

The Abita Flatwoods female was also the first kite tagged in Louisiana as part of a unique partnership focused on conserving swallow-tailed kites and other birds in working forests. The kite partnership, which began in 2015, initially included American Bird Conservancy (ABC), International Paper (IP) and ARCI. Since OAS joined in 2022, efforts to conserve kites in working forests has intensified in Louisiana and Mississippi, primarily within the procurement area for IP’s Bogalusa paper mill.

Jeremy Poirier has been involved with the kite working forests project since its inception. He said it can be challenging for a large global pulp and paper company like IP to prove to an “environmentally conscious global consumer base” that fiber-based products are not only sustainable but good for wildlife.

“However, one of the exciting outcomes of the swallow-tailed kite work is the fact that these birds are helping us change the narrative about the conservation value of southeastern working forests,” Poirier said. “Seeing swallow-tailed kites firsthand during forest tours with IP customers is always a memorable experience for attendees and a testament that sustainable forest management can provide important wildlife habitat for a wide array of species.”

EJ Williams, vice president of the Southeast Region of the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), applauds IP’s efforts.

“Working through IP’s fiber supply chain allows us incredible access to forest managers and private forest owners who steward hundreds of thousands of acres of sustainably managed forests providing an opportunity to say thank you for providing habitats for birds and other wildlife and to make recommendations for bird friendly enhancements,” Williams said.

Through these efforts, five Bird Friendly Forestry Workshops have taken place in St. Tammany, Washington and Tangipahoa parishes in Louisiana and Marion County in Mississippi, and three swallow-tailed kites have been outfitted with tracking units on or near working forests.

Silver Creek Kite

One of the most engaging and uplifting stories from the tracking project concerns the “Silver Creek” kite. After this young female kite fell from her nest someone brought her to the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine in Baton Rouge. She received medical treatment there and was then transferred to Acadiana Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation in Youngsville to regain normal weight. She was then brought to OAS for flight conditioning and release.

It only took a few days of flying sessions for Silver Creek to gain coordination and stamina. So on July 1, she was outfitted with a transmitter and released on a privately owned working forest. The release site had an active kite nest and a communal roost of seven kites nearby. Once she was released the roosting kites immediately flew out of the roost to circle her, calling excitedly. Kites are social birds and it seemed as though they were accepting her. It was truly a magic moment.

We know from the Silver Creek female’s transmitter that she soon crossed the Pearl River and began to explore the surrounding landscape, no doubt, following other kites. By the sixth day post-release, her tracks were indistinguishable from those of adult kites. She was feeding over a variety of areas, including over privately owned working forests.

In a surprising turn of events, the Silver Creek kite soon left the Pearl River and hightailed it to Ferriday, Louisiana. From there she moved west into Texas and in mid-August flew to the Red River north of Fort Worth.

Texas birder Laurie Lawler volunteered to search for the kite and found her roosting near a small group of Mississippi kites. Laurie later watched her hunting grasshoppers, which were incredibly abundant. Silver Creek spent almost six weeks in this grasshopper hot spot on the Red River before starting her southern migration.

Headed South

Her southbound migration was interesting in two aspects. She departed the United States about two months after most swallow-tailed kites leave. Also, she took a safer, overland route, following the Texas coast instead of flying across the Gulf of Mexico. Her movements affirm what researchers suspected: young birds are more likely to be the stragglers behind the primary wave of swallow-tailed kite migration.

This is the first time that researchers have used a remote tracking device on a young swallow-tailed kite. We hope that the Silver Creek female is long-lived and teaches us more about the early years of a kite’s development and use of working forests.

“Tracking the swallow-tailed kite migration to and from South America and the value of the data from a storytelling perspective cannot be overstated,” Poirier said. “Being able to see these unbelievable migration paths on smart phones can result in meaningful conversations about working forests and the data are available for a demonstration in any setting.

“In addition, because we can enter swallow-tailed kite tracking data into IP’s online GIS mapping platform ForSite®, we can follow their movements across the landscape to further understand their specific habitat needs and target swallow-tailed kite conservation and outreach within the most strategic areas. This provides a very important outcome for the conservation community at large.”

Williams goes a step further. Production of a company’s products, whose raw materials come from managed forests, are good for many bird populations and other wildlife.

“The scientific insights from OAS and ARCI ensure that our swallow-tailed kite ambassadors carry credible messages for the conservation of a very diverse forest bird community,” Williams said. “ABC has also been able to work directly with IP’s global customers to help them appreciate their role in keeping these forests on the landscape through the demand for forest products like boxes for shipping.”

If you see a swallow-tailed kite, you should report it to Dr. Coulson by email at OrleansAudubon@aol.com or she can be reached by calling (504) 717-3544.

Although not federally listed as threatened or endangered, this rare bird is a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Louisiana. The U.S. kite population crashed dramatically, from about 1890–1940, when the southeastern forests were extensively logged. The forests have since regrown, allowing swallow-tailed kites a modest comeback, but kites still need help. The good news is privately owned working forests are playing an important role in this bird’s recovery.

Sustainable forestry practices that enhance conditions for birds can include simple management adjustments such as conserving nest trees and the surrounding stand, adopting wider streamside management zones, retaining snags and creating snags when they are lacking. You can also help kites by talking to the people who spend time on your property. Discuss the kites with anyone who is cruising, marking or harvesting your timber, especially older stands which might contain nest trees. Ask them to familiarize themselves with the kite conservation brochure and kite nesting habits. Talk to the people who hunt and fish on your land in spring and summer and make sure they understand that these birds are rare and protected. Ask them to report any observations of kites and note the precise location.

Kite conservation in Louisiana’s working forests is funded by a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund with additional support from ABC, IP, Weyerhaeuser and the McDaniel Charitable Foundation. ARCI is providing technical support with in-kind matching support from OAS.

(Dr. Jennifer Coulson is president of the Orleans Audubon Society. She can be reached at jenniferocoulson@gmail.com. Emily Jo Williams is vice president of the American Bird Conservancy Southeast Region. She can be reached at EJWilliams@abcbirds.org. Jeremy Poirier is CWB®, senior manager of Fiber Certification and Sustainability for International Paper. He can be reached at Jeremy.poirier@ipaper.com.)