| General Comments |
This rare (Federally listed) species is normally found only from central Florida southward, and is mostly non-migratory. One of the more shocking records in recent years was the discovery of an adult male Snail Kite at some crayfish ponds near Rimini, South Carolina, in spring 2007. The bird remained for nearly a month, and was seen by practically all who made the trip. Not to be outdone, North Carolina got its own record -- the northernmost ever recorded -- in spring 2009, when an adult male was found dead on 10 April in the Crusoe Island section of Columbus* [Chat 74:35-37 link]. The dead bird is now a specimen at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. The second state record was even more amazing owing to time of year --an immature bird seen and photographed in flight a few miles north of Oregon Inlet (Dare) on 4 Dec 2019* [Chat 84:66 link] [Chat 84:79 link]. A surprising third report came in 2021: "A GPS-tagged juvenile, originally tagged as a fledgling 10 Jun at Lake
Kissimmee Florida, was tracked flying north through both states [assumed to be Georgia and South Carolina] until the tag stopped transmitting near Broadwater Bridge Rd in Roseboro (Sampson) NC 2 Aug" [Chat 86:39 link]. Though no one saw the bird in NC, it should be assumed to have occurred in the state, as the GPS signal stopped in Sampson County; the report has not yet been reviewed by the NC BRC. There may well be a question as to whether this last report should truly "count" as a third record, as there was no visual proof of it being seen in the state, and the NC BRC may well have difficulty is being able to vote on it. A female photographed, perched, at Harkers Island (Carteret) on 13 Apr 2024 [Chat 88:72 link] was certainly the best documented one in the state, but it was not seen again; it will be reviewed by the NC BRC as a third or fourth state record. |
