There are lots of birds to see in Florida, but even after three years of birding, some continue to elude me. The Snail Kite was one of those birds, but I finally saw and photographed a couple this morning at Lake Kissimmee.
These little raptors were known as Everglade Snail Kites until 1983 when it determined the Florida population was just a subspecies of the Snail Kites that roam Central and South America. Still, the Florida birds have been on the federal endangered list since 1967.
“The range of the Florida population of Snail Kites is restricted to watersheds in the central and southern part of the state,” the National Park Service notes. “Because of a highly specific diet composed almost entirely of apple snails, survival of the Snail Kite depends directly on the hydrology and water quality of these watersheds, each of which has experienced pervasive degradation as a result of urban development and agricultural activities.”
While the native Florida apple snail population has declined, the introduction of a invasive apple snail has been a boon for the Snail Kite. The birds have even evolved from having smaller bills for the native snails to having larger ones for the invasive snails.
The Snail Kites I saw on Saturday morning were females. The males are striking with a dark gray coloring. Hopefully I will see some of those, too. But for now, I’m just happy to add the Snail Kite to my catalog of birds.
