ML111282291

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Last night my good friend Grant Critchfield called about a possible Swallow-tailed Kite sighting in Salado. Grant's brother Steve lives in Salado and noticed a strange bird over his yard in the late afternoon. Steve described a gull-like bird with a long forked tail. In the brief observation Steve's impression changed from gull-like to raptor-like. (Hmmm...sounds pretty interesting, right?) Steve isn't a birder but Grant was intrigued enough to search for the bird this morning. He called me last night and we decided to search together. Around 7 a.m. this morning (10 April) Grant & I parked along FM 2268 near Steve's home and surveyed the skies for 15 minutes or so. Nothing. Warm south winds were already whipping. We decided to split up and drive various county roads encircling the south of Salado. I went north toward town and Grant drove southward. Around 07:25 as I was driving west on Royal street I spotted a possible suspect WAY OFF in the valley below, lazily floating above the riparian corridor along Salado Creek. I pulled over and easily nailed the ID without opening the car door. At this point I got pretty excited and alerted Grant on his cell phone. I also got outdoors on the road shoulder with my camera ready. As I watched a second Swallow-tailed Kite appeared and Grant arrived about the same time. I also called my dad who lives nearby in Salado so that he could enjoy the birds before they disappeared. The three of us watched as the pair drew closer to Royal street, crossed over us to the south and then moved further east toward Blackberry road. We moved our cars to where it looked like they might cross Blackberry, and sure enough they did. The pair passed directly overhead as they lazily floated (=kited) across Blackberry; then they moved eastward and more northward toward the course of Salado Creek where we lost sight of them. I presume they were following the riparian woodlands in their migration route, perhaps to pick up the Little River at the Three Forks area and then keep moving ENE along Brazos River drainages to wherever they're ultimately headed.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 50D

ISO

800

Focal length

420 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/7.1

Shutter speed

1/3200 sec

Dimensions

500 pixels x 800 pixels

Original file size

142.59 KB