Swallow-tailed Kite at Lighthouse Point

I spent a couple hours this morning at Lighthouse Point in New Haven on a light NW breeze in hopes of turning up some diurnal migrants, such as raptors and swallows. At this time of year, the big prize would be a reorienting Swallow-tailed Kite. These master areialists are prone to drifting with the wind, and northbound birds in spring occasionally overshoot their southern breeding grounds and end up in New England, especially on a tailwind from the south. Over the years a bit of a pattern has emerged: kites that have overshot their migration have been seen reorienting back southward along the coast when the wind comes from the north. This is the same sort of process that brings Cave Swallows to our coast in the late autumn. This has been recorded with Swallow-tailed and Mississippi Kites a few times in CT in recent memory, but a better observed pattern comes from Cape May, NJ, where up to 5 individual STKIs have been recorded on a single spring day with NW winds.

As luck would have it today, I had just gotten out of my car and hadn't yet set up my scope when I saw naked-eye a SWALLOW-TAILED KITE hugging the coast. The ridiculously long tail and deep, lazy wingbeats were a dead giveaway even from a distance side-on without optics. It was slowly moving westward towards the Lighthouse into the wind. I grabbed my camera and, thanks to the bird's slow progress, was able to get off record shots. I immediately called Julian Hough, who lives just on the other side of the harbor, to let him know what was headed his way! He made his way to the end of his street as quickly as he could and observed the kite complete the harbor crossing and angle inland over West Haven.






Swallow-tailed Kite, objectively one of the most beautiful raptors in the world, always provides a thrill. This is only my second in CT, the first from a twitch in April 2005. So this is a new self-found species for me in the state.

Otherwise, a male Kestrel, also headed west, was the only other obvious migrant. So, it was quite slow outside of the kite. Spring vis-mig along the CT coast is something I've only started to dabble in, and I hope to post further thoughts on that later this month.

 - Nick

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