![]() ![]() As this new understanding emerges, conservation strategy is also changing. Geological Survey and university partners to better understand the habitat transition that’s underway. The Conservancy and Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge are now working with the U.S. Models show large swaths of freshwater cypress swamp being replaced by the spartina grass of a salt marsh. ![]() On South Carolina’s Sampit River, acres of dead cypress trees testify to salt’s creep upriver. This is the zone where saltwater pushes upstream in a wedge under the freshwater flowing out to sea. As sea levels rise, ocean tides push the “salt wedge” farther inland. Since the 1700s, about half the nation’s wetlands have disappeared, threatened by agriculture, logging, dams, dredging and invasive species, as well as natural disturbances like hurricanes.Ī new peril also looms: salinity intrusion linked to climate change. Cypress swamps and other freshwater forested wetlands where the birds nest have been dwindling for centuries. Nor did anyone know how many birds remained or where exactly they flew when they migrated south. By 1940, the kite’s range had shrunk to seven states, from South Carolina to Texas-and the reason was unclear. Then the population underwent a sudden decline. Records from the 1800s show nesting pairs as far up the Mississippi Valley as Minnesota and Wisconsin. Scientists estimate that the swallow-tailed kite only inhabits about five percent of its historic range. Swallow-tailed kites once nested in 21 states. Kites need at least 100,000 acres of contiguous forest to maintain healthy populations. They nest in “neighborhoods” and roost in groups ranging from dozens to more than one thousand prior to migrating. Roosting a crucial time for them as they load up on calories for an exhausting 5,000-mile flight from Florida across the Gulf of Mexico and down to the tropical forests of southern Brazil. Unfortunately, much of their favored habitat is threatened. Kites are very social and forage in groups. They have high mortality on their migration between the southern United States and southern Brazil-especially in the spring when they fly north across the Gulf of Mexico and can be swept off course by storms. Nesting adults and their young are subject to predation by great horned owls. The birds do not reach breeding age for three to four years, and females do not breed every year. They feed on the wing, snatching dragonflies and other insects out of the sky. They rarely flap their wings instead, they soar effortlessly, changing course with minute adjustments of their distinctive forked tails. Swallow-tailed kites are built like gliders, with huge wings and small, streamlined bodies. ![]()
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