Swallow Tailed Kite

Swallow-tailed Kites are an early season migrant that can be seen in small numbers, often migrating alongside the far more common Mississippi Kite. Usually one or two will be seen accompanying a flock of thousands of Mississippis. They will sometimes be seen flying lower near the coast, where I took this short bit of video.

I have a personal fascination with the Swallow-tailed kite, because it is the very first diorama you seen when you enter the Bell Museum of Natural History in Minneapolis. I went to that museum as a child and later on worked there for many years. I have spent many hours admiring that diorama thinking I would never see this birds in life. In the early days of the Bell Museum, swallow tails were often seen along the Mississippi river, but they have long since been extirpated from their historical nesting sights along the river valleys of Minnesota. I'm glad I can still see them somewhere, and maybe one day they will return to their historical range.