Most of us associate swallow-tailed kites with Florida and neighboring States and, until today, I had never encountered one outside of that region. Shortly after 11 AM, as I drove eastward on Interstate 70, I saw one along the highway, just west of the 435 interchange in eastern Kansas (Wyandotte County).
Its beautiful black and white plumage, deeply forked tail and typical kite maneuvers made identification easy, even when traveling at 65 mph. Nevertheless, I was shocked to see the bird and was relieved to find that another birder also reported the sighting (on eBird) from the same area.
In fact, if one reviews the map of swallow-tailed kite sightings over the past 5 years (available on eBird), these magnificent aerialists have been observed as far north as Southern Canada and as far west as Wyoming, eastern Colorado and Southern California. While most of these were likely non-breeding wanderers, it is rewarding to know that this kite might be reclaiming some of its past breeding grounds, which extended along rivers to the Northern Midwest.
