![]() The information is critical to fill gaping holes in our knowledge about a vulnerable species whose range in the United States contracted from 21 states to 7 in the space of just four decades-and hasn’t recovered since. ![]() If all goes according to plan, this device will provide the kite’s whereabouts many times a day for years to come. Finally, they loop nylon straps around the bird’s shoulders and affix a transmitter that looks like a streamlined, solar-powered backpack. ![]() They weigh and measure the bird, band it, take feather samples for genetic testing. Still, the beauty of a kite in hand is nothing compared to that of a kite in flight, and the team is anxious to reunite this one with its mate and two others now worriedly circling and calling overhead. Meyer arrives a moment later, and the two begin to untangle the puzzled bird.ĭespite the fact that they’ve done this many times before, Kent and Meyer have never stopped marveling at the Swallow-tailed Kite’s beauty and elegance-the brilliant white breast and head capped by the iridescent blue-black of the back and tail the hauntingly dark eyes the impossibly long, slender wings. Kent tears open the door of the blind and sprints to the kite suspended in the nylon mesh a few feet above Einstein’s head. When she looks back toward the net, it’s there-more a clump of black and white feathers than a bird. As the kite falls silent, Kent looks away for a moment to adjust her stool. Ten minutes in, a kite is circling overhead, delivering an alarm call that sounds like a squeaky toy in the clutches of a hyperactive dog. It’s only a matter of time before one shows up the question is whether it’ll swoop close enough to be caught in the net. These birds will persistently, if not aggressively, defend their nests against Great Horned Owls, their most fearsome predators. She’s looking for any sign of a Swallow-tailed Kite, a sleek, black-and-white raptor with a deeply forked tail known for both the effortless grace with which it soars and the precision with which it maneuvers when snatching prey or confronting threats on the fly. With that in mind, Kent takes her seat on a small camp stool and settles in the only way she seems to know how-back straight, ears alert, eyes constantly scanning through the sliver-thin window. Or all hell could break loose in an instant. Between the two of them, Meyer and Kent have been doing this kind of work for more than 50 years, so they know they might have a long wait ahead of them with little more to do than swat deer flies. Having situated Einstein on his perch at the base of the net, they return to the blind and join two other team members, volunteer Grace Campbell and Kent’s longtime mentor and boss, Ken Meyer. Walking back to the net with Einstein and his handler, Nan Soistman, Kent uses her body to shield the raptor from view she doesn’t want any onlookers to associate the owl with the team’s activities this morning. With the set-up nearly complete, Kent returns to the vehicles parked just out of sight to retrieve the lure: a rehabilitated but non-releasable Great Horned Owl nicknamed Einstein. They’re careful to whisper and avoid eye contact with the occupants of a nest near the top of a nearby slash pine. ![]() Kent and the others work quickly, assembling a camouflaged blind and aluminum poles, then stretching a billboard-size, gossamer net across a road overgrown with sawgrass. And with the sun now skimming the tops of the pines here in northern Florida’s Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge, the team is burning daylight. It’s late May, and she knows there won’t be many more chances to catch and tag a bird this breeding season. Still, having been skunked four times in a row, her optimism is tempered with a bit more caution than usual. It’s a trap day, and biologist Gina Kent greets this one like she does any other, with an energy and brightness that’s hard to match at this early hour.
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