then select eBird Status and Trends at the lower left
Then Enter Swallow-tailed Kite in the Species Name search box, and Click on Swallow-tailed Kite when it pops up, the Swallow-tailed Kite screen will come up with the Abundance menu item at the top highlighted in green.
On the right in the Abundance sidebar one can see the very interesting and all-important annual date ranges for the kites:
Pre-breeding Migratory Season (18 January - 29 March)
Breeding Season (5 April - 28 June)
Post-breeding Migratory Season (5 July - 18 October)
Non-breeding Season (25 October - 11 January)
One can also explore the Weekly, Trends, and especially the Range menu items here as well!
This can also be done for any species, what a great resource!
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As many know, the entire U.S. SWALLOW-TAILED KITE population is a true specialty of the southeast in North America. Although it's written that these birds used to breed in at least 21 eastern states a long time ago they now only breed in reliable good numbers, or maybe at all, in maybe 8 or 10 states, all or most of which are Gulf of Mexico/America and Atlantic Ocean coastal states in the south or southeast, from eastern Texas through to maybe North Carolina (not sure about Arkansas or Virginia or anywhere else these days).
A sizable portion of the U.S. population of these kites (maybe 100-200+ pairs annually) return to Georgia starting every late winter (Feb or Mar) through spring to breed primarily along some of our coastal river corridors, mostly in coastal counties or counties somewhat inland from the coast, but also in other southern coastal plain areas, and maybe even a bit further inland in Georgia. A very few birds have sporadically been well documented inland even into the Georgia Piedmont in the spring! Not sure what the latest breeding surveys have revealed of the nesting trends for the kites in Georgia recently.
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Summer and Migration
All of these kites migrate south leaving North America in the fall, seeing a Swallow-tailed Kite in Georgia in September is usually quite rare.
Primarily in July, and then usually more intensely, through at least the first half of August, they flock up at favorite local foraging sites near the breeding grounds (with young participating and/or often only begging from a perch), usually over local agricultural fields, and for a good while too on most days (9am-12pm seems to be best) to fatten up on flying insect prey in preparation for their long southward fall migrations. It seems that they love June Bugs the best (so make those eventually July and August Bugs too).
Good numbers of different small flocks of these kites (but sometimes up to 30-50+ each) also post-breeding disperse far from the main southeastern Georgia breeding territories, and some may eventually coalesce together much further north well up into the Georgia Piedmont, and maybe into other areas of Georgia, to gather and forage prior to fall migration. They have often been seen in late July and on into mid-August or a good bit later even up into the Georgia Mountain (valleys) and the Ridge and Valley (valleys) regions in small numbers after finding suitable fields to forage over there as well.
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So Swallow-tailed Kites can possibly be seen throughout much of Georgia from spring through summer (mostly in summer) though they can be quite uncommon to very rare in occurrence. Currently the kites have been eBird reported and confirmed in all but 17 of our 159 Georgia counties at some point, and some folks are working to find them eventually in every Georgia county.
Currently I know of less than maybe half a dozen Georgia birders who are trying to see them in as many Georgia counties as possible, but I would encourage all who can to try, please come out and join us each year!
In order to show what can be possible (and I'll have to celebrate a little here) on June 28, 2025 I just completed seeing them in 80, or half of all Georgia counties, which was a personal minimum life goal. Now I am trying to figure out how many total Georgia counties it might be reasonable to expect to see them in over maybe 10 or 20 more years of searching. They have been eBird documented so far in 142 Georgia counties, but how many of those have they only been seen in just once or a very few times over the decades?! Interestingly, I've seen them in 20 counties in spring (pre-July), and 60 counties in summer (July, August, September) in Georgia. It also seems that Georgia, second only after Florida, may have the most U.S. Swallow-tailed Kites each year!
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Primarily due to the availability of current eBird SWALLOW-TAILED KITE sighting information:
* * * * * YOU MAY NOT HAVE TO TRAVEL VERY FAR, OR TO LONG COUNTY, TO SEE FLOCKS OF THESE KITES IN GEORGIA * * * * *
At different times of the year eBird flags sightings of Swallow-tailed Kites as rare in some areas of Georgia. The birds are usually not flagged as rare at times in parts of the coastal plain. They are usually flagged as rare anywhere further north or west, but maybe not always everywhere else later in the summer.
Why this is important is that if you want to find them in a lot of areas around Georgia the easiest way is to consult the eBird Species Map for the kites to see where they have been seen very recently (like this month). Be aware that in some areas in some timeframes where/when the kites are rare in eBird they have to be confirmed by eBird reviewers before they will show up on the Species Map so that you can find them there, and that cannot always happen instantly or daily.
If you are subscribed to the eBird Georgia Rare Bird Alert you will receive timely rare Swallow-tailed Kite alerts fairly immediately (hourly or daily depending on your settings), before the kites are confirmed and on the Species Map, for locations where they are currently filtered as rare in eBird. You will not receive email alerts for locations where they are currently not rare, you'll just have to check the Species Map and see if any new ones showed up since you last checked the map!
A Swallow-tailed kite flock, usually also containing some Mississippi Kites, could be in a county Very or Reasonably Near You during the summer kite season!
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2025 Skeens Farm Information
In Georgia probably the most reliable site, certainly the most famous over many years, and the area to historically often see the largest numbers of the birds traditionally has been the Skeens Farm and its surrounding area in Long County, a few miles southeast of Glennville, and not very far from the Altamaha River corridor.
Gene Wilkinson of Glennville has long been keeping tabs on the status of the summer kite flocks around Tattnall and Long Counties for many years and many, many birders have enjoyed seeing both SWALLOW-TAILED KITES (STKIs) and MISSISSIPPI KITES (MIKIs) there in sometimes quite large mixed kite flocks, and often extremely very up close and very personal, due to Gene relaying his kite scouting information to Georgia Birders Online (GABO)!
I caught up with Gene this past week and this month he has been out of state with family.
Gene advises that as usual summer kite activity on the Skeens Farm and in his area is best when the June Bugs really start showing up emerging low over the fields in the area. The Skeens Farm is still open to visitors, and the June/July/August Bugs should be emerging and forthcoming in some numbers soon if not already, which all hopefully portends for a good area forecast for a good Long County area kite season with potentially, as in many years past, many STKIs with a good number of MIKIs as well in the mornings onsite at the farm and in the immediate surrounding areas!
The elder Mr. Skeens has recently passed away, and many kite watchers have certainly appreciated his family's generosity and willingness to share the Swallow-tailed Kite and Mississippi Kite mixed kite flock spectacle at his farm over these many, many years with the birding community. The younger Mr. Skeens continues that tradition, and the farm roads are open for birders to come and view the kites this season (though recommend best to not leave the roads without specific guidance or permission due to farm operations)!
You don't need any advance permission to enter and bird on the farm during kite season, but please engage the Skeens when you see them, show your gratitude, and ask about current parking, or if there are any special instructions for the day that you are there.
I had previously put up 3, for folks not already familiar, fairly essential annotated aerial photography viewing maps of the area and the sites at:
1. Long County - Kite Flocking Areas.jpg
https://app.box.com/s/jheyu0j31fea058f3ufqvmeekndpftt8 Overview of the main areas to watch kites, the Skeens Farm is traditionally the best site. The farm proper is OPEN TO BIRDERS. This area is about 5 miles east of Glennville Georgia on Hwy 196.
3. Skeens Farm - Detail with Parking.jpg
https://app.box.com/s/xvifaao9amsobmw12wmeag837qg2s5m3 The farm proper is OPEN TO BIRDERS. Shows the farm entrance and possible best parking areas depending on conditions and farm operations. Shows where the kites may perch in the trees in the mornings and early afternoons on the farm proper.
Decimal Degrees (WGS84) coordinates and GPS coordinates are included on these JPG files, I would be familiar with them before you go. Input the coordinates into Google Maps (or other map app) exactly as they are, and you can view the pinpointed location on the screen, then you can do directions or zoom in and out to see how to get to the sites as needed. Turn the satellite imagery on as desired as well.
It's going to be very hot out there, cold drinks, snacks/food, sun protection, an umbrella, a chair are all good ideas. As are scopes, binoculars, and cameras!
I would request of folks that will be submitting eBird or GABO reports of their kite sightings in the area (or anywhere else in Georgia) this season (as many have already done) to provide as much detail as possible as to exactly where they are seeing single kites or kite concentrations so that others may benefit the most in their trip planning when using the information provided.
If you have never seen Swallow-tailed Kites before, especially up close, or even if you have, you will always be totally elated by the bountifully beautiful, gorgeously graceful, stunningly amazing, and astoundingly acrobatic aerial displays put on by these kites! These displays can sometimes intensify a good bit in frequency, speed, and acrobatic prowess during a given session if the number of kites increases as they compete in possibly larger numbers for the amount of flying insect prey over the fields in late July through mid-August or so!
Jaw-dropping birdwatching action, and they can sometimes float over your head within 20 feet or even less. Although there can be no guarantee, this is always a superb chance during the peak timeframe to see many SWALLOW-TAILED KITES, with some and maybe many MISSISSIPPI KITES mixed in, and often up close, and also to sometimes see them perched somewhere out on the farm if you explore around a bit, and all maybe for a few hours, and potentially for day after day till mid-August or so!
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Swallow-tailed Kite (and Mississippi Kite) watching is Georgia birding, or any birding, at its absolute best! We are indeed very fortunate to live and bird in a state that has good numbers of these kites breeding and flocking, both the Swallow-tailed Kite and the Mississippi Kite, where they put on such amazingly spectacular annual shows for us in preparation for their fall migration!
Mark McShane
Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County, Georgia
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