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Historical NC Swallow-tailed Kite Reports



Well, no other Avendex user has chimed in, so...

Shantanu Phukan  wrote:
<<I just got back from a field trip to Howell Woods Preserve in Johnston
Cty... saw two Swallow
Tailed Kites forage over the savannah next to the ranger station.>>

Prior to this sighting, there have been at least 23 reports of
Swallow-tailed Kite from the Piedmont and Coastal Plain of NC (EXCLUDING
counties adjacent to the immediate coast and Pamlico County).  However, none
of these sightings were reported to be of multiple birds --- this sighting
may be the first involving multiple birds in the described geographic area.

BUT (and I think this is strange), two of the four Swallow-tailed Kite
reports from the NC mountains involved multiple birds:  2 observed near
Mills River, NC on May 11, 1974 (associated with a CBC meeting --- some of
you probably were there!) and 2 birds which apparently hung around the Black
Mountain, NC area from early August to September 3, 1986 (at least it was
assumed these were the same two birds, which were observed at different
specific locations during the period).

Of course, coastal NC is gifted with these birds on a regular basis, at
least in the spring: there have been at least 115 reports over the last 50
years, of which at least 24 involved multiple birds.  As a matter of fact,
an amazing 11 were observed on Hatteras Island on May 26, 1962 (5 of which
hung around until May 30). The earliest report I can find is Feb 27, 1977 at
Fort Macon and the latest September 8, 2001 at Fort Fisher.

My usual caveat:  there certainly could be other reports of which I know
nothing about and this only covers about the last 50 years.

-- 
Russ Tyndall
Wake Forest, NC
www.redshanksoftware.com