The historic range of Swallow-tailed kites once included much of the Southeast including NC and up the Mississippi River to as far north as Minnesota, and as far west as Texas. However, populations plummeted due to habitat loss and pesticide use by the early 1900’s.
Today, these rare birds are known to nest in large swamp forests in fragmented populations from South Carolina down through Florida and west to Louisiana. In 2013, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission biologists documented the first Swallow-tailed kite nest along the Cape Fear River in Bladen County.
This Swallow-tailed Kite was spotted by Craig Sasser down on the Waccamaw River in South Carolina. Be on the lookout for Swallow-tailed kites along the Waccamaw and Cape Fear Rivers.
Photo by Craig Sasser
