I have been pondering the miracle of migration recently. Living along the Gulf Coast we get a front row seat to the arrival and departure of our feathered friends, and sometimes they even stay a spell and spend a season with us. Let us celebrate those brave and amazing avian travelers who take epic journeys of migration.
Each year, an astounding 4 billion to 5 billion birds migrate seasonally between North and South America. Florida and parts of the Gulf South are a critical and essential step in the journey for birds migrating along the Atlantic Flyway, traveling to the Caribbean and South America.
If you live along the Gulf Coast of Florida you know that August is a sad time not just for school children as they must surrender summer and return to school, but also for birders and nature lovers who delight in seeing Swallow-tailed Kites in flight. They bring joy when they arrive in March, and sadness when they depart in August.
Swallow-tailed Kites are wondrous in their flights of elegance. As they prowl the tops of live oaks and longleaf pines, they seem effortless in their quest for insects, small reptiles, and small amphibians. I consider them good luck when observed and a true blessing from nature.
One of the truly magical and miraculous aspects of the migratory journey is that birds navigate vast distances using the Earth’s magnetic fields. Evolution and natural selection, over thousands and thousands of generations, have imbued migrating birds with the ability to “see” or sense magnetic fields with specialized, light-sensitive proteins in their eyes. Outstanding! But it is no easy journey.
Ponder this: You are a creature of relatively small stature, even as a Swallow-tailed Kite. You might be as small as a human hand, more or less. You weigh next to nothing, and to survive you must migrate across great distances. You must cross vast bodies of water. You must press onward, wings in constant motion, when there is nowhere to land.
You rely on the stores of energy you have gathered into your body before you take flight. Nature, evolution and geography all intertwine, and you have just barely enough energy to reach landfall across vast and open Gulf or Caribbean waters.
When you do at great long last make it to landfall, the resources you need to just barely survive may be gone. Human activities threaten to end what evolution spent millions of years setting in motion.
Despite all the amazing tools nature has provided for migrating birds, there are still massive and logistical challenges simply posed by nature itself. Now those challenges have grown exponentially with climate change, sea-level rise, structural obstacles and collisions, habitat loss that limits bird’s ability to find food and shelter, invasive species and pollution.
While your ancestors made the journey endless times, you must make it in a world that is rapidly changing. The landscapes and natural patterns you evolved to anticipate and endure have changed beneath you. The journey has become exponentially harder.
It’s not easy to be a migratory bird. Even when as graceful and majestic as a Swallow-tailed Kite.
As our friends the Swallow-tailed Kites are now departing on their 5,000-mile journey to South America where they will reside for the next six months. They could use our help and support.
Let us commit to doing what we can to ensure migratory birds survive. There are specific, effective things we can do in the hope that what nature set in motion over a millennium is not torn asunder in our lifetimes. Consider doing the following:
- Support public lands acquisition and management: Natural habitat, preserved where it is and managed for wildlife, provides safe refuge, a resting place and food for migratory birds when they need it most. Programs like Florida Forever, when fully funded, can protect key coastal and inland habitats birds that rely on for survival as they pass through. Healthy Gulf is committed across the Gulf South to ensure habitat for all species is preserved forever.
- Create havens for migratory birds and other wildlife in your own yard: You can provide migratory birds with a small refuge with food, water and shelter. Year-round bird species will benefit from a small piece of habitat as well. Think of food, water, shelter and a place to nest. Use native plants, support pollinators and think like a bird. The Florida Native Plant Society has excellent and respected programs to support your efforts.
- Support groups like Healthy Gulf and the Avian Research Conservation Institute (ARCI): These groups advocate for the things needed to protect natural resources that migratory birds need. Support bird advocates with your time, funding and political support.
- Contribute to swallow-tail kite sightings through ARCI’s 2026 Population Survey.
Migration is a timeless cycle. We must do our part to support and conserve it. We must cherish it. The threats facing migration are vast and daunting. Support Healthy Gulf and their efforts to make life easier for wildlife by saving the Gulf. Our hope and action can prove more powerful. May our Swallow-tailed Kites return next year!
Joe Murphy is a former staffer and Board Member for Healthy Gulf. He submits these blog posts as a supporter and alumnus. Joe lives along the Gulf Coast of Florida in the Nature Coast. You can follow Joe on Facebook at: https://bit.ly/joemurphyfacebook