Swallow-tailed Kite Field Guide — Elanoides forficatus in Florida

Stand at the edge of a cypress dome in Collier County in late March and look up. If you see a 60 cm (24 in) bird scything through the air on wings spanning 1.2 m (4 ft), white body gleaming against a blue sky and a deeply forked black tail cutting clean angles behind it — you are watching Elanoides forficatus, the swallow-tailed kite, and you will not confuse it with anything else alive.

This is one of Florida’s most spectacular migrants: a long-distance neotropical traveler that winters in the Amazon basin, arrives in southwest Florida as early as late February, breeds in old-growth cypress and pine flatwood forests, and then — in one of North American ornithology’s great staging events — assembles by the thousands in SW Florida each August before departing on a 10,000 km (6,200 mi) journey south. No other raptor in Florida commands the same combination of elegance, aerial athleticism, and sheer visual impact.

The surprising fact: E. forficatus eats and drinks entirely on the wing. It snatches dragonflies, tree frogs, and anole lizards directly from vegetation without landing, and skims water surfaces to drink — all in continuous, banking flight.

ID at a Glance

• Size: Body 55–65 cm (22–26 in); wingspan 116–136 cm (46–54 in); weight 310–500 g (11–18 oz). Slender build for its wingspan.
• Tail: Deeply forked — the single most diagnostic field mark. No other North American raptor has a comparable fork. The tail is entirely glossy black.
• Upperparts: Entirely glossy black on wings, back, and tail, with a strong iridescent blue-green or purple sheen in good light.
• Underparts and head: Pure white — head, neck, breast, belly, underwing coverts. The contrast with the black flight feathers is stark and unambiguous.
• Flight style: Graceful, buoyant, deeply banking — more like a frigatebird than a typical accipiter. Rarely flaps; soars and glides constantly.
• Juvenile: Similar to adult; slightly buff-washed on the white areas and with finer streaking on the breast. Tail fork already conspicuous.
• Similar species: None at range. Distant birds can briefly recall an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) or a frigatebird, but the forked tail and pure white body are immediately distinctive once seen well.

Taxonomy

Elanoides forficatus is the sole member of its genus, placed in Family Accipitridae (hawks, eagles, Old World vultures). Within that large family it belongs to the kite group — a polyphyletic assemblage of slender, buoyant-flying raptors — and is most closely related to the Pearl Kite (Gampsonyx swainsonii) and the bat-hawks.

Two subspecies are recognized:

• E. f. forficatus — the North American breeding form, slightly larger.
• E. f. yetapa — the South American resident form, slightly smaller with a proportionally longer tail.

The species name forficatus is Latin for “scissors-shaped,” referencing the forked tail. The genus Elanoides means “kite-like” (Greek elanos = kite + eidos = form).

Range and Habitat in Florida

Florida is the demographic core of the eastern US breeding population of E. forficatus. The state holds an estimated 800–1,200 breeding pairs — roughly 90% of the US breeding total.

Primary range: Southwest Florida is the stronghold. Collier, Hendry, Charlotte, Lee, and Glades counties host the densest breeding populations. The Big Cypress National Preserve, Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, and Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area are key breeding areas.

Breeding habitat: E. forficatus nests in large, old-growth trees — typically bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) and slash pine (Pinus elliottii) — at the edges of swamp forests, flooded prairies, and pine flatwoods. It requires tall emergent trees for nesting and open airspace for foraging. Extensive cypress dome systems in Collier County are optimal.

Seasonal chronology:

• Late February – March: First adults arrive from South America, moving into traditional nesting territories.
• April – June: Active nesting and chick-rearing. Pairs defend nest trees.
• July – August: Post-breeding flocks form and grow. Pre-migratory communal roosts develop — this is when numbers peak visibly in SW Florida.
• Late August – September: Departure. Most birds have left the state by mid-September; stragglers are occasionally recorded into early October.

Other Florida regions: Breeding colonies or regular sightings occur in Alachua, Levy, and Marion counties in north-central Florida (hardwood swamps along the Suwannee and Santa Fe drainages). Migrants pass through the entire peninsula.

Behavior and Ecology

Foraging: E. forficatus forages entirely in flight. It hunts over wetlands, forest edges, and open prairies, plucking prey directly from vegetation with its talons. Prey items include dragonflies, wasps, cicadas, beetles, anole lizards (Anolis spp.), small snakes, tree frogs, and nestling birds. Larger prey items — a whole lizard or a small snake — are transferred to the bill and consumed in flight without landing.

Communal roosting: From July through departure, swallow-tailed kites form communal night roosts that can number in the hundreds to several thousand individuals. These roosts are a remarkable spectacle — birds stream in from wide foraging areas at dusk, spiraling down into roost trees in continuous waves. Roosts in the Caloosahatchee River corridor and around Lake Okeechobee are the most consistently documented in Florida.

Nesting: Pairs build a small stick platform nest in the crown of a tall tree, often adding fresh green material including Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) and leaf sprigs — possibly as a form of fumigation against nest parasites. Clutch size is 2 eggs. Incubation period is approximately 28 days. Both parents incubate and provision chicks. Young fledge at roughly 36–42 days post-hatch.

Migration: E. forficatus is a long-distance transequatorial migrant. Satellite-tracking studies have documented migration routes from Florida southwest across the Gulf of Mexico and through Central America to wintering grounds in Bolivia, Brazil, and Ecuador. Individual birds have been tracked on round trips exceeding 20,000 km (12,400 mi). The pre-migratory staging in SW Florida suggests the birds are physiologically preparing — building fat reserves — for the overwater crossing.

Aerial behavior: Perhaps no North American raptor is as consistently aerial. Swallow-tailed kites even bathe in flight, diving low and skimming water surfaces. They are highly gregarious outside the breeding season and will mob large raptors — including Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) — cooperatively.

Conservation Status

Elanoides forficatus is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, reflecting a stable and widespread South American wintering population.

In the United States, the picture is more nuanced:

• The US breeding population was extirpated from much of its historical range — which once extended north to Minnesota and west to Texas — by the early 20th century through hunting and habitat loss.
• The surviving US population is concentrated in Florida and a handful of southeastern states (South Carolina, Georgia). It is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and is listed as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Florida’s State Wildlife Action Plan.
• Primary threats: Loss of old-growth cypress and pine flatwood forests; logging of nest trees; pesticide exposure (reducing prey availability); mercury contamination in south Florida wetlands; and climate-driven shifts in prey phenology.
• Positive trend: Florida populations appear stable or slightly increasing over the past two decades, supported by conservation of large tracts in the Big Cypress system and the Fakahatchee Strand. Coordinated roost monitoring — led by the Avian Research and Conservation Institute (ARCI) based in Gainesville — tracks population trends annually.

Where to See It

• Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary (Collier County): One of the most reliable sites in Florida for breeding kites. The boardwalk through old-growth bald cypress allows exceptional views of foraging birds from March through July. Best: April–June.
• Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park (Collier County): Vast cypress swamp with consistent breeding activity. The main park road (Janes Scenic Drive) offers reliable morning sightings along forest edges. Best: March–June.
• Fisheating Creek Wildlife Management Area (Glades County): Pre-migratory staging roosts form here in July–August. Evening roost watch can produce counts in the hundreds. Best: late July – late August.
• Lake Okeechobee corridor (Hendry/Glades/Okeechobee counties): The Caloosahatchee River floodplain and the northern lake fringe host major staging aggregations. Best: August.
• Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area (Broward County): Good during migration. Best: March and August–September.
• Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park (Alachua County): Reliable sightings of breeding birds in the Gainesville/north-central Florida population. Best: April–June.

Interesting Facts

• Satellite-tracked migrants have been recorded flying non-stop across the Gulf of Mexico — a minimum overwater distance of approximately 900 km (560 mi) — in a single flight during fall migration.
• E. forficatus has been documented eating on the wing for days at a time during migration, never once touching the ground. Food, water, and sleep (micro-sleep while soaring) are all accomplished in the air.
• The pre-migratory staging roosts in SW Florida are among the largest single-species raptor aggregations in North America outside of broadwing hawk migrations — individual roosts documented at 3,000–5,000 birds in the Caloosahatchee corridor.
• Unlike most raptors, swallow-tailed kites are highly tolerant of conspecifics year-round: they forage in loose flocks, roost communally, and even occasionally nest in loose colonies where suitable forest patches are dense with nest trees.