I’ve spent a lot of time looking for and trying to photograph Swallow-tailed Kites. And last week I finally hit the jackpot.
I saw my first Swallow-tailed Kite last year at the Orlando Wetlands. It was soaring very high – something this beautiful black-and-white bird with its scissor-like tail does a lot. These members of the raptor family come to Florida and the southeast U.S. each spring and summer before flying thousands of miles back to South America, where some can be found year-round.
My problems with my photographing Swallow-tailed Kites had to do with their flying. Whenever I saw one, it was usually flying very far away – either way overhead or way off in the distance. (See the last photo below.) And, as luck would have it, the birds were often flying in the direction of the sun, so the lighting was about as bad as it could possibly be in the situation.
But on a sunset outing to the Wetlands last week, in a part of the park I rarely venture into, I saw one right at tree level next to me. It circled and circled and circled again, gaining altitude with each revolution. But it initially remained low enough – and in the right lighting – that I finally got the pictures of this bird I had been craving.
And even after I thought it had finally left, it returned – though far away – with a bit of a surprise. I noticed it was carrying something in its talons. Turns out it was a wasp’s nest, which seemed odd to me. But AllAboutBirds.org said, “Stinging and biting insects such as wasps and ants form an important part of the species’ diet.”
I can’t wait for my next close encounter with this bird.
