For me, the return to warmer temperatures and summer skies is heralded by the Mississippi Kite. Like the end of the Florida Legislative Session and ramping up of beach-nesting bird season, this special raptor tells me that summer is upon us.
Mississippi Kites spend the winter in South America before breeding in portions of the southeastern U.S. and Florida Panhandle. Like all migratory birds, their flight paths connect us across borders, as well as across time and space. Raptors are on the move, but so are songbirds and shorebirds, waders, and waterfowl. In May an American Redstart flew past the Motus station at our own Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, connecting Jamaica, where it was originally tagged, with Florida and then on to its nesting habitat in the Midwest.
Our Audubon staff are on the move too. From crisscrossing Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary as we hosted scientists and policymakers, to the coastal team fanning out across 300+ nesting sites, to the Everglades team representing birds at critical groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings, we spend the hottest months in every kind of Sunshine State habitat.