Date: 5/22/26 11:57 am From: Yaukey, Peter via groups.io <pyaukey...> Subject: [ALbirds] Swallow-tailed Kite migration timing 2026
AL Birders:
For those interested, I have compiled the dates of apparent passage migrant Swallow-tailed Kites in the coastal zone from the New Orleans area east to Mobile Bay, this spring. I distinguished migrants as including any birds south of Lake Pontchartrain (where they don't breed) and in MS-AL any reports of 3 or more between the coast and the vicinity of I-10. The latter is of course, an imperfect measure for distinguishing migrants, and presumably included some breeders.
The first migrant was reported in eBird on 2/26, and I ended the analysis on 4/23 (despite kites continuing to trickle through- I saw one in New Orleans as late as mid May).
The total was 310 kites fitting the criteria described above.
The migration this year was strongly bimodal, with two surges: one from 3/3-11 (63 birds), and the second (larger) from 3/30-4/9 (188 birds). The 18 day gap between these held just 22 birds. I have not done this for other years, so do not have any sense whether bimodality is normal for this species in this area.
I plotted cold front passages on these data, and there was no obvious relationship (I was expecting a negative relationship in the form of cold fronts shutting down trans-Gulf migration and having few migrants in their wake). There was a front in the middle of the major (second) surge, and the surge was a little less strong after it but did continue for c. 3 days.
I also plotted time of day of sightings. They spanned the period 8am-5pm fairly evenly. This was interesting because it lacked a mid-day lull. Migrant raptors are often reported to show a mid-day lull when birds are so high in the air that sightings decline.
Although both date and time of day could potentially be influenced by amount of observers afield, there was no peak on weekends evident and I suspect such influences were limited bc a high number of the eBird reports of the species were incidental rather than associated with birding outings (longer eBird excursions). This may have caused them to be less focused on classic birding times of day (e.g., weekend mornings).
My quest to find concentration points for eastward moving kites accummulated few data points beyond those shared earlier in this chat; hope springs eternal for further elucidation next spring!
