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FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM Biological Sciences
Volume 29
1984
Number 6
THE RANGE OF THE SNAIL KITE AND ITS HISTORY IN FLORIDA
Paul W. Sykes, Jr.
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
GAINESVILLE
Numbers of the BULLETIN OF THE FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM, Biological Sciences, are published at irregular intervals. Volumes contain about 300 pages and are not necessarily completed in any one calendar year.
)
Oliver L. Austin, Jr., Editor RhodaJ. Bryant, Managing Editor
Consultants for this issue:
Fred E. Lohrer James W Parker
Communications concerning purchase or exchange of the publications and all manuscripts should be addressed to: Managing Editor, Bulletin; Florida State Museum; University of Florida; Gainesville, Florida 32611.
This public document was promulgated at an annual cost of $3,525.00 or $3,525 per copy. It makes available to libraries, scholars, and all interested persons the results of researches in the natural sciences, emphasizing the circum-Caribbean region.
Publication date: December 3, 1984
Price $3.55
THE RANGE OF THE SNAIL KITE AND ITS HISTORY
IN FLORIDA
Paul W Sykes, Jr.1
Abstract: A study of the status, distribution, life history, and ecology of the Snail (Everglade) Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus) was conducted in Florida beginning in the fall of 1967 and completed at the end of December 1980. This paper covers the distributional aspects of the study.
Taxonomists have generally recognized four subspecies of Rostrhamus sociabilis, but more recently Amadon (1975) concluded that the birds in Florida and Cuba are inseparable, and he assigned levis of Cuba to plumbeus. This paper follows that opinion.
The ranges of the Snail Kite and its subspecies are presented in four range maps based on a thorough review of the literature and information supplied by ornithologists working in or visiting various parts of the Western Hemisphere.
The total range in Florida is mapped in detail. The original and present (1968-1980) ranges in Florida are presented. The present range was found to be about 9% of the original. The legal descriptions of localities used by kites during the 1968-1980 period are listed in Appendix 2.
Records of the Snail Kite from 1844 through 1980 in the United States cover its occurrence at 80 localities in Florida, 1 in Georgia, and 3 in Texas. The Florida localities are numbered and shown in Figure 15. The localities are grouped under 12 natural drainage systems, 3 regions, and 6 political divisions. The listing of records is as complete as possible.
The range and historical data for Florida were obtained from a review of the literature, a thorough search for preserved material in museum and private collections in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe, field observations throughout the state by the author from the fall of 1967 through the end of December 1980, and the assistance of coop-erators. Curated collections that were found to have no kite materials from Florida are listed in Appendix 1. A complete list of preserved Snail Kite material originating from Florida is found in Appendix 3. These include 159 skins and mounts, 148 egg sets, and 1 skeleton. There appears to be no fluid (whole) specimen of the Snail Kite for Florida. Information listed in Appendix 3 includes locality at which the material was collected, date, catalog number, curatorial institution, and sex. The number of skins and egg sets at each curatorial institution are listed in Table 1. Kites have been recorded in 33 Florida counties.
During 1968 -1980, the most important areas in Florida for the Snail Kite were the marsh on the west side of Lake Okeechobee (Fig. 9) and the eastern and southern sectors of Conservation Area 3A (CA3A) (Fig. 13). Habitats in these two areas should be maintained to insure their continued suitability for this species.
Resumen: Un estudio del status, distribucion, ciclo de vida y ecologi'a del gaviln caracol-ero (Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus) fue realizado en Florida entre el comienzo del otono del 1967 y el final de diciembre de 1980. Este articulo cubre aspectos distribucionales de dicho estudio.
Generalmente, los taxonomos reconocen cuatro subespecies de Rostrhamus sociabilis, pero mas recientemente, Amadon (1975) concluyo que hay solo tres subespecies; dado
'Tin- author is a Wildlife Biologist (Research) of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Endangered Species Research Program, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Field Station. 4195 Maurice Drive, Delray Beach. Florida 33445.
Sykes, P.W., Jr. 1984. The Range of the Snail Kite and its history in Florida. Bull. Florida State Mus., Biol. Sci. 29(6):211-264.
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que los gavilanes de Florida y Cuba son inseparables, el asigno el levis de Cuba a la subespecie plumbeus. Este articulo es favorable a esta opini6n.
Las areas de distribucion del gavilan caracolero y sus subespecies estan representadas en cuatro mapas basados en una detallada revision de la literatura e informacion propor-cionada por ornitologos trabajando en o visitando diferentes regiones del Hemisferio Occidental.
La distribucion del gavilan caracolero en Florida ha sido trazada en un mapa en de-talle. La distribucidn original y presente en Florida es mostrada. La distribucion presente se estimfj como aproximadamente un 9% de la original. Las descripciones legales de las localidades usadas por los gavilanes durante el periodo 1968-1980 se enumeran en el Apendice 2.
Registros del gavilan caracolero desde 1844 hasta 1980 en los Estados Unidos indican su presencia en 80 localidades en Florida, 1 en Georgia y 3 en Texas. Las localidades en Florida se numeran en la Figura 15 y se agrupan en 12 sistemas naturales de drenaje, 3 regiones y 6 divisiones politicas. El listado de los registros es lo mas completo posible.
La distribucion y datos hist6ricos en Florida fueron obtenidos en base a una revision de la literatura, una cuidadosa investigacibn de material preservado en museos y colec-ciones privadas en los Estados Unidos, Canada, Mexico y Europa, observaciones de campo a traves del Estado por el autor desde el otono de 1967 hasta el final de diciembre de 1980 y la ayuda de colaboradores. Las colecciones en las que no se encontraron gavilanes cara-coleros de Florida se listan en el Apendice 1. En el Apendice 3 se presenta una lista completa del material preservado oriundo de Florida. El material incluye 159 plumajes y montajes, 148 juegos de huevos y 1 esqueleto. Aparentemente no existen especimenes en pie del gavilan caracolero en Florida. La informacion listada en el Apendice 3 incluye la localidad en la que el material fue coleccionado, fecha, numero de catalogo, instituci6n a cargo y sexo. El numero de plumajes y huevos en cada institution se lista en el Cuadro 1. Los gavilanes caracoleros han sido registrados en 33 condados de Florida.
Durante el periodo 1968-1980, las areas de Florida mas importantes para el gavilan caracolero fueron el pantano del lado oeste del Lago Okeechoee (Fig. 9) y los sectores este y sur del Area de Conservation 3A (CA3A) (Fig. 13). Los habitats en estas dos areas deberfan ser preservados para asi garantizar que sigan siendo adecuados para esta especie.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................214
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................................216
THE RANGE................................................................217
The subspecies and Their Distribution..................................217
Florida Snail Kite (R. s. plumbeus).........................................217
Mexican Snail Kite (H. s. major)...........................................218
Southern Snail Kite (R. s. sociabilis)........................................220
RANGE AND HISTORY IN FLORIDA........................................221
Original Range in Florida..............................................222
Present Range in Florida (1968-1980)....................................225
The Historical Record in Florida With Sightings Elsewhere
in the United States................................................234
Gulf Coastal Bend....................................................235
Oklawaha River Drainage.............................................237
Withlacoochee River Drainage ......................................237
Chassahowitzka River Drainage......................................238
St. Johns River Drainage..............................................238
Indian River Drainage.................................................240
Pinellas County.......................................................240
Manatee County......................................................240
Sarasota County.......................................................240
DeSoto County........................................................240
Kissimmee River Valley.................................................241
The Savannas..........................................................241
Lake Okeechobee......................................................242
Caloosahatchee River Drainage and Vicinity........................243
Loxahatchee Slough (= Loxahatghee Marsh) and West Palm Beach .. 244
Palm Beach County....................................................245
The Big Cypress Region and Vicinity..................................245
The Everglades........................................................245
Southern Florida.....................................................252
Florida Keys...........................................................252
State of Florida.......................................................253
Records in the United States Outside Florida.......................253
LITERATURE CITED........................................................253
APPENDICES...............................................................256
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INTRODUCTION
The Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus Ridgway) in the United States is for the most part unique to Florida. It is a medium-sized raptor, about 43 cm in length with a wingspread of 115 cm, that inhabits freshwater marshes and ranks among the most specialized of raptorial birds in its food requirements. The greatly decurved, narrow, sharp-tipped upper mandible is highly adapted for extracting the soft parts of snails from their shells (Sykes 1978). In Florida the kite feeds almost exclusively on the freshwater apple snail (Pomacea paludosa) (Sykes and Kale 1974), which is available to the birds only when the marshes are flooded. Because of drainage and other modifications to its habitat, the kite population has declined since the early 1900s.
Adults of the species are sexually dimorphic, with females slightly larger than males. The adult male is slate gray with black wing tips. The square tail is black with a large white patch at its base and a narrow white terminal band. The unfeathered soft parts of the adult male are orange-red and become more intense during the breeding season. The eyes of adults are red and immatures brown. The females and immature males are brown and buffy above with the underparts white to buffy and heavily streaked with dark brown. The tail pattern of the brown-plumaged birds is similar to that of the adult male. The color of the soft parts of all females and immature males ranges from yellow to orange.
The Snail Kite, unknown to William Bartram, Alexander Wilson, and John Audubon, was first found in Florida 29 April 1844 by Edward Harris (1844) when he collected an immature male near the headwaters of the Miami River. C. J. Maynard secured the type specimen for the subspecies plumbeus at this same general locality 25 March 1871 (Baird et al. 1874, Deignan 1961). Many specimens and eggs have been collected, and numerous sight records exist for localities scattered over the peninsula and in the Gulf Coastal Bend region. Many of these data have never been published and are summarized here for the first time. A complete list of specimens from Florida is presented in Appendix 3, and the sight records are included in the historical section.
Howell (1932) was the first to detail the species' distribution in the United States. He stated that it bred in Florida from the southern tip ot the peninsula northward to Panasoffkee and Crescent lakes and listed a number of localities for which there were breeding records as well as other known occurrences. Some 20 years later Alexander Sprunt, Jr. (1954; believed that practically the entire population was confined to the southwestern part of Lake Okeechobee. Stieglitz and Thompson (1967) briefly summarized kite distribution for the early and mid 1960s. Howell (1932?
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and these authors cited the steady loss of habitat that began in the early 1900's. This situation resulted in a substantial reduction of the population and a corresponding decrease in the range. The Snail Kite in Florida was declared endangered in 1966 by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Committee on Rare and Endangered Species 1966). Because of this critical status, a study was begun to document what had taken place in the past, what was happening at present, and how the problems might be solved. Some of the results of this study are presented here. Other papers dealing with aspects of the kite's life history and ecology are in preparation.
From 1967 through 1980, I made a thorough search of museum collections, examined the literature for all available information on Snail Kites, conducted annual censuses, and made detailed field observations. The field work also included an aerial survey of most freshwater marshes of the peninsula and the Gulf Coastal Bend region. On-site inspections were made in the most promising habitats. Observations and field assistance by cooperators supplemented my field efforts. I visited 16 museum collections in the United States to examine kite specimens from Florida. Curators of an additional 126 private and public collections were contacted by letter in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Unpublished data were obtained from the files of governmental agencies, educational institutions, private organizations, and from the field notebooks of individuals.
This publication describes: (1) The range of the Rostrhamus sociabilis and its subspecies in the world; (2) the original range of the species in Florida; (3) the present range in Florida; (4) the historical record in Florida by specific localities within their respective hydrological system, region, or political division; and (5) a listing of all known skins, mounts, skeletons, and egg sets from Florida.
Abbreviations used for curatorial institutions are in Table 1.
Since 1981, the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge has been the clearinghouse for all Snail Kite sightings in Florida. Anyone seeing a Snail Kite should report the sighting to: Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Route 1, Box 278, Boynton Beach, FL 33437. Telephone: AC 305 732-3684. All sightings should include the date, locality (be as specific as possible), name(s), mailing address(es), and telephone number(s) of observer(s), description of the appearance of the kite, the number of individuals seen, type of optics, if any, used to view the kite, was it photographed, habitat in which the kite was observed, what was it doing when seen (perched, flying, soaring, hunting, etc.), estimated distance of bird from the observer, and any other relevant data. These types of information are essential to determine the reliability of each record.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I have drawn freely upon the unpublished notes of Roderick Chandler, National Audubon Society, Okeechobee, Florida; Norman E. Holgersen, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Delray Beach, Florida; Joseph C. Howell, University of Tennessee, Department of Zoology, Knoxville; John C. Ogden, National Audubon Society, Research Department, Tavernier, Florida; Alexander Sprunt, Jr., National Audubon Society, Charleston, South Carolina; and Herbert L. Stoddard, Sr., Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, Florida. Alexander (Sandy) Sprunt, IV, National Audubon Society, Research Department, Tavernier, and Thomas W. Martin, Jr., Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Boynton Beach, Florida, kindly provided unpublished materials from their files. Ray C. Erickson, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, Maryland, supervised the project and offered advice and direction. Lynda J. Garrett, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, and Cynthia H. Plockelman, South Florida Water Management District, West Palm Beach, provided published literature and helped locate obscure references.
Many persons generously helped with the field work, contributed observations, submitted data from curated collections under their care, made data and materials available, and aided in numerous other ways. Without their assistance this undertaking would not have been possible. They include: C.S. Adkisson, J. David Albury, Gordon D. Alcorn, Susan Allen, James Angy, Oliver L. Austin, Jr., W. Wilson Baker, Richard C. Banks, Jon C. Barlow, Oron L. Bass, Jr., Charles B. Buhrman, Laurence C. Binford, Richard J. Blakeway, William J. Bolte, S. I. Bond, David Bowman, John Brooks, Dan B. Bull, Eugene A. Cardiff, Joseph D. Carroll, Jr., Wilfredo F. Castillo, Roderick Chandler, L. Carl ton Chappell, Earl F. Cook, Robert S. Cook, J. W. Diedrich, Earl E. Diemer, J. Walte; Dineen, James B. Dixon, John H. Doebel, Paul G. DuMont, John R. Eadie, David H Ellis, Louis F. Gainey, Sidney A. Gauthreaux, Jr., Herbert Gee, Frank B. Gill, W. Ear Godfrey, Robert L. Goodrick, Ken Gordy, Samuel A. Grimes, W. Grant Guthrie, Warrei G. Hagenbuck, Janet A. Hamber, James W. Hardee, Greg J. Harrison, A. Ronald Hight Steven L. Hilty, Hugh V. Hines, Thomas R. Howell, Nelson D. Hoy, John P. Hubbard James H. Hunt, Gloria S. Hunter, Martin T. Hurdle, George Iannarone, A. I. Ivanov Ned K. Johnson, Joseph E. Johnston, Herbert W. Kale, II, Ralph M. Keel, Jr., Walter J. Kenner, Lloyd F. Kiff, P.M. Lais, Howard P. Langridge, Roxie C. Laybourne, James N. Layne, Frank J. Ligas, John Lindell, Elizabeth C. Linderman, Fred E. Lohrer, Tern Macky, Thomas W. Martin, Jr., Robert A. Martz, Travis C. Meitzen, James F. Milleson John J. Morony, Jr., Kenneth Morrison, Bertram G. Murray, Jr., Edward C. Murczek Kent E. Myers, John C. Ogden, John P. O'Neill, Oscar T. Owre, Theodore A. Parker Kenneth C. Parkes, Robert B. Payne, Raymond A. Paynter, Jr., Henry W. Palzl, Gary L Pesnell, David W. Peterson, James E. Pilgreen, Raymond H. Plockelman, Jr., John G Powell, Ernest Provost, Jack Purvis, Roy Raymond, Carl H. Richter, William B. Robert son, Jr., James A. Rodgers, Jr., Charles H. Rogers, Even L. Rude, Robert P. Russell, Jr. Albert E. Sanders, Sanford D. Schemnitz, George D. Schrimper, Albert Schwartz, Robert W. Slattery, Paul Slud, Walter Smith, Ronald C. Snider, David W. Snow, Barton M. Snyder, Helen A. Snyder, Noel F. R. Snyder, Roger A. Spaulding, Alexander Sprunt, IV. Henry M. Stevenson, Louis A. Stimson, Charles W. Strickland, Joan J. Sykes, Wesley J. Sykes, W. Ernest Taylor, Donald E. Temple, Richard L. Thompson, Earl E. Tolonen Milton B. Trautman, Melvin A. Traylor, Richard H. Turner, John S. Weske, Ira E. West brook, Sanford R. Wilbur, David E. Willard, James M. Williams, Erwin White, John S Wise, L. R. Wolfe, Kevin A. Wood, and Ruth E. Young.
Ray C. Erickson, Gary L. Hensler, Cameron B. Kepler, H. Randolph Perry, Chandler S. Robbins, William B. Robertson, Jr., and Henry M. Stevenson reviewed early drafts of
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the manuscript and offered suggestions for its improvement. Peggy Teahan kindly did the typing.
To all these friends and colleagues, i extend my deep appreciation.
THE RANGE The Subspecies and Their Distribution
The Snail Kite, Rostrhamus sociabilis (Vieillot), of the Family ACCIP-ITRIDAE, Subfamily MILVINAE (true kites), is a wide-ranging New World species found primarily in lowland freshwater marshes in tropical and subtropical America from Florida, Cuba, and Mexico south to Argentina and Peru (Fig. 1). Except for Cuba and Trinidad, it is absent from the islands of the Caribbean (Friedmann 1950).
Hellmayr and Conover (1949) and Friedmann (1950) recognize four subspecies: (1) the Florida Snail Kite, R. s. plumbeus Ridgway; (2) the Cuban Snail Kite, R. s. levis Friedmann; (3) the Mexican Snail Kite, R. s. major Nelson and Goldman; and (4) the Southern Snail Kite, R. s. sociabilis (Vieillot). For descriptions of these see Friedmann (1950). The plumages of the subspecies are the same, and bill, wing, and tarsus measurements overlap considerably (Friedmann 1950). Recently Amadon (1975) reexamined the taxonomic status of the four subspecies and concluded that plumbeus and levis are not distinct. He synonymized levis with plumbeus, with which I agree. As size is the only character distinguishing the subspecies (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950) and the measurements exhibit overlap, the separation of this species into subspecies is still open to question. For example, the birds of Honduras currently assigned to the subspecies sociabilis are intermediate in size between the South American sociabilis and major and measure about the same as plunibeus (Monroe 1968).
Florida Snail Kite (R. s. plumbeus)
R. s. plumbeus is found locally in peninsular Florida (Howell 1932, Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950). It is locally common in Cuba (Fig. 2) at Artemisa, San Cristobal, Lake Ariguanabo, Lake Solis, Lake Tesoro, the Zapata marshes, and the lower Cauto River Basin, and rather rare in the Lanier Marshes and at Santa Rosalia on the Isle of Pines (Barbour 1943, Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950, Bond 1956, Schwartz and Klinilowski 1963, Garrido and Montana 1975, Albert Schwartz pers. comm.). Of an estimated population of 50 to 100 Snail Kites at Lake Guama in the Zapata Marsh region, 28 were seen at one time in mid-June 1978 (James F. Clements pers. comm.). Distribution of this form in Florida is treated in detail in the next section.
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R. s. major (Fig. 3) is local in eastern and southern Mexico in the states of Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Quintana Roo (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950, Blake 1953, Binford
1984 SYKES: FLORIDA SNAIL KITE 219
Figure 2.The range of Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus in Cuba.
1968, Edwards 1972, Peterson 1973, John C. Ogden pers. comm.); in Belize from New River and Hill Bank Lagoon south to Stann Creek (Russell 1964); and in Guatemala in the Peten District and at Panzos (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950, Land 1963, 1970).
Figure 3.The range of Rostrhamus sociabilis major in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. Suitable kite habitat is very local in much of the region shown.
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Southern Snail Kite (R.s. sociabilis)
R. s. sociabilis is scarce in Central America in Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama (Fig. 4). In Honduras it is known from Laguna Toloa and Lake Yojoa (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950. and Monroe 1968); in Nicaragua at Rivas, Isla de Ometepe, Rio San Juan del Norte, and Los Sabalos (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950, Thomas R. Howell pers. comm.); in Costa Rica on the lower Rio Frio Drainage, in the Tempisque Basin primarily in the Guanacast Marshes near Bebedero and Palo Verde, on the upper Nicoya Peninsula at Bolson and Santa Cruz, and on the Osa Peninsula (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950, Slud 1964, Collett 1977, Paul Slud per.' comm.); and in Panama at Perme (Griscom 1932, Hellmayr and Conove 1949, Friedmann 1950, Wetmore 1965, Ridgely 1976), with recent re -cords at Gualaca and Tocumen and breeding near Remedios (Ridge! 1976).
R. s. sociabilis is common locally throughout South America (Fig. ) south to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, central Argentina, and Uruguay an 1 east to Trinidad and eastern Brazil (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Frie< -mann 1950, John P. O'Neill pers. comm.). It has not been recorded fro i the Guyana Massif nor the Brazilian Plateau. In Colombia it is found i the tropical lower Magdalena Basin and generally east of the Andes (b t local), and rarely to the temperate zone of the marshy highland basin t Bogota, Cauca Valley at Lago de Sonso near Cali, and Remedios (Frie< mann 1950, Steven L. Hilty pers. comm.). In Ecuador it has been r corded west of the Andes at Yaguachi marshes near Guyaquil, at Bab -hoyo, and Vinces and east of the Andes along the Rio Napo (Hellma and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950, John P. O'Neill pers. comm.). i i northeastern Peru it is reported from Pebas (Friedmann 1950) and in tl : Department of Loreto at Yarinacocha (John P. O'Neill pers. comm.). I l Venezuela, it is found in the tropical zone from Zulia and Apure east > Delta Amacuro and to the south bank of the Orinoco River in northe; i Bolivar; and it probably occurs throughout the country in suitable habit t (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950, Meyer de Schauens. i and Phelps 1978). It occurs in Trinidad as a rare visitor at Nariva Swan p and Caroni Marshes (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 195-', ffrench 1973). It is found commonly in the coastal lowlands of Guyai a (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950, Noel F. R. Snyder per;, comm.), Surinam (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950, Hav-erschmidt 1968), and French Guiana (Hellmayr and Conover 194 :, Friedmann 1950).
R. s. sociabilis is found generally throughout Brazil, except on the Brazilian Plateau. It is widespread in the Amazon basin as well as from the latitude of Cuiaba in Mato Grosso southward, and in the lowlands of
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Figure 4.The range of Rostrhamus sociabilis sociabilis in Middle America. Suitable kite habitat is very local in much of the region shown.
the southeastern coast (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950). In Bolivia it is found in the departments of Beni and Santa Cruz, in Paraguay in the eastern two-thirds of the country, and throughout much of Uruguay (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950, John P. O'Neill pers. comm.). In Argentina, it occurs in the provinces of Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucuman, Cordoba, Santa Fe, Misiones, Cor-rientes, Entre Rios, and Buenos Aires (Hellmayr and Conover 1949, Friedmann 1950), where it is reported to be extremely abundant in the northeastern part of the province (Susan Allen, Paul G. DuMont, and Theodore A. Parker pers. comm.).
RANGE AND HISTORY IN FLORIDA
This section contains most of the records of the Snail Kite in Florida, from its discovery in 1844 through 1980, as documented by preserved catalogued materials in museum collections, published accounts in the literature, and sight records judged reliable.
Preserved Snail Kite materials from Florida are housed in 36 collections in four countries; 32 in the United States, 2 in Canada, and 1 each
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in England and die Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The known extant materials, totaling 308 units, are listed in Table 1. This material includes 159 skins and mounts, 148 egg sets, and only 1 skeleton; I am not aware of the existence of any fluid (whole) specimens from Florida. I feel that I have located most of the existing kite materials originating from the state. Curated collections with no Snail Kite material from Florida are listed in Appendix 1.
Original Range in Florida
The range of the Snail Kite in Florida prior to 1910 is shown in Figun 5. The principal areas included: (1) The lower Wacissa River in Jeffersoi County (Wayne 1895); (2) Lake Panasoflkee in Sumter County (Scott 1881) (3) the upper reaches of the St. Johns River from Volusia and Lake coun ties southward to the headwaters in southern Brevard, Indian River, an< northwestern St. Lucie counties; (4) the Kissimmee River Valley fron Osceola County south to northern Glades and southwestern Okeechobe-counties; (5) the west (Glades Co.) and south (Hendry and Palm Beac cos.) sides of Lake Okeechobee; (6) the Caloosahatchee River drainag from north-central Lee County upstream to Lake Hicpochee (Glades an Hendry cos.); (7) the Loxahatchee Slough and West Palm Beach are south to Lake Ida in Delray Beach in eastern Palm Beach County; (8) th Everglades from the west, south, and east sides of Lake Okeechobe south to the mangrove forest at the southern end of the peninsula, we; of the Atlantic coastal ridge and east of the Big Cypress, and includin parts of Glades, Hendry, Palm Beach, Broward, Collier, Monroe, an Dade counties; (9) Okaloachoochee Slough in Hendry and Collier coun ties; and (10) the marshes in Collier and Monroe counties to the south west of the Big Cypress and inland of the mangrove forest.
Additional places from which kites were recorded from 1910 to 196 (black triangles in Fig. 5) include the Wakulla River, Wakulla Count (Howell 1932, Stevenson 1951a, b); St. Marks N. W. R., Wakulla Count (Stoddard 1950); Micanopy, Alachua County (Swann 1934); Emerald Marsh, Lake County (Howell 1932); Chassahowitzka River, Citrus Count (Howell 1932); vicinity of Jacksonville, Duval County (Boardman 1884 Grimes 1944); near Crescent Lake, Putnam County (Howell 1932); Lak Norris, Lake County (Howell 1932); Sebastian River, Brevard and India'. River counties; southern Indian River, St. Lucie County; Lake Butler (-_ Lake Tarpon), Pinellas County; Manatee County; Sarasota, Sarasota Count) (Stevenson 1955a); DeSoto County; and Ft. Myers, Lee County.
Other areas in the peninsula where kites probably occurred (?'s in Fig. 5), but for which evidence is lacking, are the Orange and Lochloosa lakes region (Micanopy is in the vicinity) in southeastern Alachua County; the
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Figure 5.The original range of the Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus) in Florida. Selected counties are shown with their present boundaries.
Lake Tsala Apopka region of eastern Citrus County; the numerous lakes in southern Lake, throughout Orange and Polk, and northwestern Highlands counties; the marsh on the north side of Lake Apopka, Lake and
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Orange counties, near the present town of Zellwood; the Myakka River (area within the present Myakka River State Park), southeastern DeSoto County; the Corkscrew Marsh, Lee and Collier counties; the small sloughs scattered through the Big Cypress region; the Savannas in eastern St Lucie County; the Allapattah Flats of southwestern St. Lucie, westerii Martin, and northcentral Palm Beach counties; and the Hungryland Slough in northern Palm Beach County between Loxahatchee Slough and the northeastern part of the Everglades.
Kites have been recorded in 33 Florida counties (Table 2). This listin is based on present county boundaries. Some of the boundaries hav changed over the years as new counties were established from parts of the older counties (Whitefield 1975). Between 1844 and 1949, kites wer recorded in 33 (49%) of the 67 counties of Florida. From 1950 throug 1967 they were reported in only 10 (15%) of the counties, and from 196 I to 1980 the birds were observed in 16 (24%) of the counties.
Details of the nesting distribution for the kite in Florida are incon plete. Howell (1932:168) gave the following general account of the fo mer breeding range: "Breeds locally in the southern and central part north (formerly) to Panasoffkee Lake and Crescent Lake. Recorded fro the Wacissa River and probably bred in that vicinity. Recently it has bee i found nesting on the Wakulla River. The birds formerly bred and wii tered abundantly in many parts of the Everglades, but at present the are restricted to a few localities that are unaffected by drainage oper -tions."
The single breeding record for the Gulf Coastal Bend is on the Wa ulla River (Howell 1932). On the peninsula, the northernmost breedii ; record is at Micanopy, Alachua County (Swann 1934). In the north-ce: -tral peninsula, kites were thought to nest in Emeralda Marsh, Lake Coun (Howell 1932). Howell (1932) listed breeding at Lake Panasoffkee, Sun ter County, and at Crescent Lake, Putnam County. For the latter, tl : label of an egg set at the U. S. National Museum gives the locality "ne. r Crescent City." This town lies on the west side of the lake. I am unawa 1 of the evidence of actual breeding at Lake Panasoffkee other than tl fact that at least 22 specimens (9 males, 12 females, and 1 unsexed) wei ; collected there in February and March 1876 (Appendix 3). With tl s number of birds present during the breeding season, one could reasoi -ably assume nesting in the vicinity. The species has also been reported breeding at Lake Norris, Lake County.
Kites were known to nest extensively along the upper St. Johns Riv< r and its headwaters (Nicholson 1926, Howell 1932). This included tie marsh south of Lake Washington, Brevard County, south through Indian River County into northwestern St. Lucie County. That part of the Si. Johns Marsh in the vicinity of Fellsmere and that west of Vero Beach,
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both in Indian River County, were particularly well known nesting areas. At least 42 egg sets were collected on the headwaters (Appendix 3).
All nesting activity at Lake Okeechobee has been confined to the large marsh on the west side, from the present site of the city of Clewiston north to the mouth of the Kissimmee River. This marsh is in Hendry, Glades, and Okeechobee counties. No nesting is recorded for the remainder of the lake, including Ritta, Kreamer, and Torry islands on the southeastern side in Palm Beach County. At least 19 sets of eggs have been collected on the lake over the years. Kites formerly bred along the Caloosahatchee River Drainage upstream to Lake Hicpochee in Lee, Hendry, and Glades counties.
The Snail Kite formerly nested throughout the Everglades Basin and in the Big Cypress Region in Okaloachoochee Slough in Hendry, Collier, and Monroe counties (Howell 1932, Appendix 3).
Loxahatchee Slough or Marsh and the marshes that formerly existed in the West Palm Beach area of Palm Beach County were well known breeding sites. At least 23 egg sets were collected in these marshes up to the early 1920s.
Localities where kites have probably bred in the past and for which no documentation exists include the following: the Wacissa River, Jefferson County; the Lake Tsala Apopka region, Citrus County; the marsh that was formerly on the north side of Lake Apopka, Lake and Orange counties; the middle reaches of the St. Johns River in Volusia, Lake, Seminole, Orange, and northern Brevard counties; the Savannas, St. Lucie County; the Kissimmee River Valley, Orange, Polk, Osceola, Highlands, and Okeechobee counties; Allapattah Flats, St. Lucie, Martin, and Palm Beach counties; marshes along the Myakka River, Manatee and Sarasota counties; and sloughs scattered through the Big Cypress Region, mainly Collier County.
Counties having evidence of breeding in the historic past are listed in Table 2. Changes in county boundaries over the years have been considered. Kites have nested in at least 16 (24%) Florida counties, and probably in at least 11 others (Citrus, Highlands, Jefferson, Manatee, Martin, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, and Volusia).
Present Range in Florida (1968-1980)
The present range of the Snail Kite in Florida (Fig. 6) is shown in detail in Figures 7 through 14. The legal descriptions of habitats currently used by kites are in Appendix 2. The estimate of the present range is based upon data obtained from 1968 to 1980 and comprises approximately 9% of the original range.
From time to time individuals are seen for short periods outside the
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Figure 6.The range of the Snail Kite in Florida, 1968-1980.
mapped areas but within the original range. This is particularly true fol-lowing completion of nesting activities and during drought conditions. The birds in Florida are nomadic (Sykes 1978, 1979). For this reason most localities are not in continuous use and some are occupied only infrequently.
From 1950 through 1967, kites nested in 5 (7%) counties, and from
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1968 through 1980 in 6 (9%). Counties in which recent breeding has occurred are listed in Table 2.
On the headwaters of the St. Johns River (Figs. 6 and 7), nesting is in parts of the St. Johns, Cloud Lake, and Strazzulla reservoirs. Nesting in the Savannas (Fig. 8) is at two localities. At Lake Okeechobee (Fig. 9), nesting is primarily at Horse Island (Horse Island Cove and along the edge of the main lake shore north from Horse Island), to the west and northwest of Monkey Box between it and the channel to Sportsman Village, on the west side of Observation Shoal east of Monkey Box, in the vicinity of Turners Cove, between Observation Island and Moonshine Bay, just north of the South Rim Canal from a point 4 km SW of Observation Island westward to within a kilometer of Moore Haven, and infrequently elsewhere. No actual nesting has been noted in the Lake Park
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Figure 8.Snail Kite range (1968-1980) in the northern part of the Savannas, St. Lucia County.
Reservoir (Fig. 10) in recent years, but courtship display by two males was seen there in the spring of 1977.
Nesting activity on the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (Conservation Area 1 = CA1) (Fig. 11) has been on the eastern and southern
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Figure 9.Snail Kite range (1968-1980) on the west side of Lake Okeechobee in Glades, Hendry, and Okeechobee counties.
sides. Nesting activity in Conservation Area 2A (CA2A) (Fig. 12) has been in six general localities in the eastern half of the area. Most nesting is in the largest of the six in the southeast corner. An occasional nest is found outside of the six sites. Nesting in Conservation Area 2B (CA2B) (Fig.
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H M*fMl Unlit M|*r Sit*
Figure 11.Snail Kite range (1968-1980) on the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (Conservation Area 1), Palm Beach County.
12) was recorded in the southern sector within 1.25 km of the North New River Canal.
In Conservation Area 3A (CA3A) (Fig. 13) nesting is primarily west of L-67A in Dade County. Nesting is 4.5 km north of the Tamiami Trail in the southeast corner and extends northeastward along L-67A Canal for
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Figure 12.Snail Kite range (1968-1980) in Conservation Areas 2A and 2B, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
50
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Figure 13.Snail Kite range (1968-1980) in Conservation Areas 3A and 3B, Broward and Dade counties.
approximately 9.5 km and up to 4 km west. The southernmost nesting site is just north of the Tamiami Trail and west of the Shark Valley Loop Road entrance to the Everglades National Park. Two other nesting sites were known in Broward County; one approximately 5.6 km WSW of the intersection of the Miami and South New River Canals in T-51-S, R-37-E and the other 7.1 km SW of Andytown in T-50-S, R-39-E. CA3A together with Lake Okeechobee currently comprise the major nesting areas for the kite in Florida. No nesting activity was recorded in Conser-
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L.S. d
Figure 14.Snail Kite range (1968-1980) in the northern part of the Everglades Nation Park (excluding Taylor Slough) and the East Everglades, Dade County.
vation Area 3B (CA3B) or the Everglades National Park (Fig. 14) durin ; the 1968-1980 period.
The Historical Record in Florida With Sightings Elsewheri in the United States
In the United States the Snail Kite is generally found only in Florid; but in the last decade sightings of wandering individuals have been n ported in Georgia and Texas. This section deals with specimens and sight records for the three states in which the kite is known to occur. TL' Florida records are treated first and comprise about 99% of the materia.
The counties of origin for preserved Snail Kite material are in Table 3. Seven counties account for 86% (excluding the 46 pieces listed as State of Florida) of this material: Brevard 33 (13%), Broward and Dade-Broward 34 (13%), Dade 34 (13%), Glades 22 (8%), Indian River 35 (13%), Palm Beach 47 (18%), and Sumter 22 (8%). In some instances Broward and Dade counties have been treated as one because Broward was a part
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of Dade County until 1913 (Whitefield 1975), and label data are insufficient to determine the county of origin. Lee and Hendry counties were grouped for the same reason.
Following the wane of extensive collecting in the 1920s and 1930s, ight records became more prevalent and, since then, constitute the ma-ority of the documentation for the species' distribution in the State. Al-hough this work by no means contains all the sight records for the kite i Florida, it incorporates most of the important sightings that are be-leved accurate.
The individual records for Florida are grouped by regions or natural rainage systems and, under these, by 80 localities with numbered desolations. Records for each locality are listed chronologically. The refer-
ice from which each record was obtained is given with the listing. Where o reference is given the observation was made by the author. The com-lete reference for published records is given in the Literature Cited.
ach specimen record is followed by its catalogue number and deposi-)ry institution.
Prior to about 1900, the Snail Kite was probably found, at least in ears when water levels were high, in nearly all freshwater marshes confining an apple snail (Pomacea paludosa) population from about 2915' jrth latitude south throughout the peninsula of Florida to the mangrove orests at its southern tip. There are a number of gaps in our knowledge f the distribution of this species in Florida. Only relatively recent access fo much of the kite habitat has been made possible by a modern road system and the development of mechanized transportation, but by then ouch of the original kite habitat had been lost as a result of widespread irainage. Therefore, most of the early kite records are from the periphery of the larger marshes, usually near natural water courses or along existing transportation routes. The interior of the Everglades and other vast marshes were extremely difficult to penetrate for any distance until development of the airboat with its flat bottom and air-thrust engine in the 1940s.
The localities in Florida where Snail Kites have been recorded (Fig. 15) are numbered from north to south. Localities numbered 73, 78, and 80 are not shown in Figure 15 as they refer to broad geographic regions.
Gulf Coastal Bend
1. Wakulla River. The first Snail Kite recorded on the river was a male seen hunting 0.8 km downstream from Wakulla Springs by Herbert L. Stoddard, Sr., Paul L. Errington, and Ralph King on 3 April 1929. On 9 May of that same year Stoddard and Mrs. W D. Richardson found a nest with eggs. The two birds were last seen on 9 June 1929 (Howell
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Figure 15.Localities in Florida at which Snail Kites have been recorded. The numbering system corresponds to the localities in the text.
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932, Herbert L. Stoddard, Sr., unpubl. notes). Although visited by naturalists and birders regularly, no other birds were reported at this local-y until December 1950 through early March 1951, when a lone individ-d (female or immature male) was seen during much of that period and corded on the St. Marks Christmas Bird Count of 28 December rookfield 1951, Stevenson 1951a, 1951b, Henry M. Stevenson pers. mm.).
2. St. Marks N.W.R. The only records for the refuge are 3 sightings tween 15 May and 18 July 1950 in Stony Bayou and vicinity (Wakulla mnty) by Herbert L. Stoddard, Sr., and H.L. Beadel (Stoddard 1950, .publ. notes). This is probably the same individual that was at Wakulla >rings December 1950 to March 1951.
3. Wacissa River. Arthur T. Wayne (1895) found Snail Kites to be ^ceedingly common" on the Wacissa River from April through at least May 1894. During this period he secured about 20 specimens. I have ated 7 (3 males, 2 females, 2 unsexed) of these (Appendix 3). Major larles E. Bendire in a letter to Wayne (1895) indicated he believed here must be a colony of them breeding within forty or fifty miles of e Wacissa River." This was never substantiated and there appear to be
records of this species on the river since Wayne's visit in 1894.
clawaha River Drainage
4. Micanopy. H. H. Simpson collected a clutch of eggs (CM 4914) at icanopy, Alachua County, on 4 December 1919 (Swann 1934). Exactly
\ iere the nest was located in the Micanopy area is not known.
5. Payne's Landing. During the period 13 August 1971 through 7 pril 1972, David Bowman (pers. comm.) noted one to two individuals near Payne's Landing, Marion County, on the Oklawaha River. These sightings were made following the severe spring drought of 1971 in southern Florida and are believed to represent wandering individuals.
6. Emeralda Marsh. Howell (1932) saw an adult and an immature in the Emeralda Marsh, northern Lake and southern Marion counties, between Lake Griffin and Lake Yale on 9 May 1925. He believed the immature was from a nest in the vicinity.
Withlacoochee River Drainage
7. Withlacoochee River Drainage. During the 1971 drought Thomas W Martin, Jr. (pers. comm.), saw a bird on 6 May near the S. R. 44 bridge across the Withlacoochee River on the Sumter-Citrus County line. The bird's presence at this locality is believed to be a result of dispersal associated with the drought.
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8. Lake Panasoffkee. In February and March 1876 W. E. D. Scott (1881) found kites abundant at Lake Panasoffkee. He had 19 in view on one occasion. I have located 22 specimens (9 males, 12 females, 1 un-sexed; Appendix 3) that he collected at the lake on this trip. Howell (1932) found no kites there in June 1925, nor did I on 4 May and 7-8 June 1972 and 5 June 1973. There appear to be no records at the lake since Scott's time.
Chassahowitzka River Drainage
9. Chassahowitzka River. I could find only one record for the rivei a specimen [location unknown] taken in the spring of 1918 (Howell 1932).
St. Johns River Drainage
10. Jacksonville and Vicinity. Three specimens [present locatio unknown] were taken near Jacksonville in [circa February] 1884 and wer to have been mounted (Boardman 1884, Grimes 1944). There have bee no records for this area since that time (Samuel A. Grimes pers. comm.
11. Crescent City and Vicinity. An incomplete clutch of one eg ; (USNM 28048) in fresh condition was collected near Crescent City i 1894. This set was originally part of the William L. Ralph Collection, an i the record is cited by Howell (1932).
12. Lake Woodruff N.W.R. In 1968 Kent A. Meyers (pers. comm I saw two birds in Management Unit 1 on 12 February and on 2 Apri Marvin T. Hurdle, Matthew C. Perry, and I saw a lone individual alor ; Spring Garden creek at the west end of Jones Island on 12 May 1971.
13. Lake Norris. Howell (1932) reported that B. M. Kinser recorde 1 a pair breeding on the lake in the spring of 1925. No further detai i concerning this record are known.
14. Wekiva River. S. F. Baird collected a male (FMNH 37652) on I July and a female (USNM 72815) on 5 July 1876. Brewster (1881) r. -corded the species at a "prairie" on the river on 19 March 1877, and a brown bird was photographed on the Seminole County side of the riv> r by John H. Storer in company of Edward M. Davis in May 1938 (Masc n 1939).
15. Lake Monroe. G. B. Frazer collected a male (FMNH 37654) < n 4 February 1883.
16. Lake Harney. A pair was seen in the spring of 1957 on the Seminole County side of the lake by Hall Tennis (files of Natl. Audubon Sot., Tavernier, Fla.)
17. Tosohatchee State Reserve. A brown plumaged kite was seen by Robert D. Barber (pers. comm.), Ted Robinson, and others along the power line road in the northern part of the reserve on the west side of the St. Johns River, Orange County, on 21 July 1979.
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18. Brevard County. Four kites were collected between 5 January nd 15 April 1889 and stomach contents examined (Baker 1889). I do not :now if any of this material was preserved. A male (UMMZ 62039) and a iemale (UMMZ 62040) were collected by C. J. Pennock on 30 March
924, and a male (MCZ 252440) was taken by J. B. Semple on 30 March 930. No specific locality was given for this material other than the county.
19. West of Melbourne. D. J. Nicholson (1926) saw 5 kites feeding ong the Kissimmee-Melbourne Road (U. S. Hwy. 192) across the St. hns River Marsh about 11 km west of Melbourne on 13 May 1925. enry Redding collected 2 clutches of eggs (WFVZ 16326, MNHOS 4797) r D. J. Nicholson on the St. Johns Marsh south of Lake Washington on May 1926.
20. St. Johns Marsh. William L. Dawson collected a clutch of eggs V1NH 6961) on the St. Johns Marsh on 5 March 1927. Bent (1937) ported seeing 5-6 pairs and an empty nest on the St. Johns Marsh on i March 1930. In the spring of 1950 Nicholson (1951) watched kites that haved as if feeding young, but no nest was found nor were young seen.
21. Headwaters of the St. Johns River. Howell (1932:169) stated at in the spring of 1923 kites were ". . breeding in considerable num-rs in various parts of the big marsh near the headwaters of the St. ins River in Brevard and St. Lucie Counties" [also Indian River County]. May of that year 7 specimens (3 males, 2 females, 2 unsexed juveniles)
;re collected 16 km west of Malabar (Appendix 3). From April 1925 : rough May 1931, 39 clutches of eggs and 14 specimens (11 males, 3 I nales) were taken, mainly in the vicinity of Fellsmere. According to i J. Nicholson 12 pairs were breeding in the marshes near Fellsmere i late April 1925 (Howell 1932). Joseph C. Howell (pers. comm.) found kites to be numerous on the St. Johns in 1927, and that year Arthur H. Lowell (1932) listed about 30 nests in the area. In 1928 and 1929 no kite nests were found on the headwaters marsh, but in 1931, 5 pairs nested in the area (Joseph C. Howell pers. comm.).
With the completion of State Road 60 from Vero Beach to Yeehaw Junction across the headwaters of the St. Johns River in 1931, sightings and nesting activity were recorded in that portion of the marsh. From 1932 through 1935, 6 nests were located, one nestling and 2 egg sets were collected, and several sightings were made in the vicinity of Route 60. There were no reports from this area again until March and April 1951, when 20+ kites were observed and 2 young seen flying about and being fed by adults on 13 April 1951 (Nicholson 1951). A lone individual was seen 22.5 km west of Vero Beach along Route 60 in November 1960 (Mason 1965).
Since the spring of 1969, kites have been seen regularly at the St. Johns, Cloud Lake, and Strazzulla reservoirs. In the spring of 1972, Herbert W. Kale, II, and I found a nest in the St. Johns Reservoir and saw
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up to 19 birds. In 1973 there were 2 nests in Strazzulla and 4 in St. Johns reservoirs; in 1974, 4 nests in St. Johns, 3 in Cloud Lake, and 1 in Strazzulla; and in 1975, 1 nest in Strazzulla. No nests were found on the St. Johns in 1976, and the region was not checked thoroughly from 1977 through 1980. No kites were recorded in the area on annual censuses from 1974 through 1980.
Indian River Drainage
22. Sebastian River. A male was collected by W. F. Henninger o i the river on 28 March 1898 and is now mounted (OSM 5443).
23. Indian River. A female (ROM 35683) was taken on the southei i part of the river in the summer of 1874.
Pinellas County
24. Tarpon Springs. W. S. Dickerson collected an adult male (ANS 5 45611) at Lake Butler [=Lake Tarpon] on 10 May 1895.
Manatee County
25. Manatee County. A male (MCZ 226057) was taken on 19 D -cember 1886 and a female (FMNH 37651) the following day somewhe 3 in Manatee County.
Sarasota County
26. Sarasota. Virginia Thier (fide Charles Preston) observed a ki i at Sarasota, 20-27 November 1954 (Stevenson 1955a).
27. Myakka River State Park. Walter J. Kenner (pers. comm.) r -ported a kite on the north side of Rookery Road and about 3 km east if the park drive on 26 February 1969. An adult male was seen perched i n a fencepost 2-3 km east of the park along S.R. 72 on 24 August 19 9 (Robert L. Dye and Ken C. Alvarez pers. comm.).
DeSoto County
28. DeSoto County. A male and female (BMNH 1890-4-28-2 9 and 1890-4-28-250) were taken by W. R. Dean somewhere in DeSc :o County on 8 March 1888. DeSoto County was formed from eastern Manatee County in 1887, and in 1921 it, in turn, was divided to form the present counties of DeSoto, Charlotte, Glades, Hardee, and Highlancis. The labels on the two specimens list only DeSoto County, so the speciiic locality at which they were collected within the five-county region is unknown.
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issimmee River Valley
29. Lake Tohopekaliga and Vicinity. A female (USNM 151034) as collected on 18 February 1895 by O. Tollin in the Lake Tohopekaliga
. id Cypress Lake area, Osceola County. Tollin also collected a male SNM 151035) at Little Marsh, Osceola County, on 10 May of that year d another male (USNM 151033) in the vicinity of the lakes on 30 May. am not aware of any records in this area again until E. Bostleman's port of a bird at Lake Tohopekaliga 1-30 March 1975 (Stevenson 1975).
30. Lake Kissimmee. A bird was seen at Rabbit Island in late May 73 by Kenneth Morrison (Joseph D. Carroll, Jr., pers. comm.). On 24 ivember 1980, James A. Rodgers, Jr., and I observed one kite along northeast shore on the annual kite census.
31. Kissimmee Prairie. Fargo (1934) reported a specimen taken on t prairie by Walter J. Hoxie in November 1888 [exact collection local-i and present whereabouts of specimen unknown].
32. Lake Arbuckle. Wilson (1971) reported a kite on the south shore ( uake Arbuckle in southern Polk County on 27 May 1971.
33. Lake Istokpoga. In June 1972, Katherine and Miriam Beck sighted a ite in the marsh on the west shore of the lake and took photographs ( idachromes FK4289-4299 Archbold Biol. Sta., Lake Placid, Florida, J nes N. Layne pers. comm.). Another was seen at the same place in I cember 1973 by Miriam Beck (Fred E. Lohrer pers. comm.).
34. Kissimmee River. A Mr. Riggs collected a female (FMNH 37653) o the river in February 1888. No further details on the collecting site a known.
35. DeSoto Prairie. Hugh V Hines (pers. comm.) saw a kite near tl Blue Head Ranch in southwestern Highlands County, south of S.R. 70 from a low flying plane, in early November 1967.
The Savannas
36. The Savannas. Ruth E. Young (pers. comm.) saw a male kite at the north end of the Savannas on 2 and 9 June 1974. An adult male was seen by Helen and William Dowling and others, just north of Midway Road at Ft. Pierce from 29 to 31 March 1977 (Gloria Hunter pers. comm.). The Dowlings and I saw four birds in the north end of the Savannas on 6 and 13 May 1977. On 6 May we saw one or more fledglings being fed in the marsh by one pair, but the nest was not located. Two kites were seen on the annual census of 16 November 1977, and three were recorded on the census of 6 December 1978. Helen and William Dowling (pers. comm.) found an active nest approximately 100 m north of the Lake Harbor branch of the Florida East Coast Railroad track on 13 January 1979, and on 26 January the nest contained an undetermined number of small young being
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fed. No kites were found on the annual census in 1979, but a brown bird was recorded on 25 November of the 1980 census.
Lake Okeechobee
37. East Side of Lake Okeechobee. From 22 January until 1 Apr 1 1957, Glenn Chandler observed up to 4 kites in the vicinity of Kreamer and Torry islands (files of Nat. Audubon Soc, Tavernier, Fla.) on the southeastern side of the lake. I am not aware of any other Snail Kit 3 records on the east side.
38. West Side of Lake Okeechoree. The earliest record of the ki: 3 at the lake was in November 1884, when a male (FMNH 130047) wi s collected. This specimen was originally in the Bishop Collection and tl 3 collector is unknown. The first nest with eggs was found on 20 April 19( 3 (SBCM 9631). From 1906 through 1913, 2 specimens (female, MVZ 651 I, male MVZ 6517) and 6 sets of eggs were taken on the lake (Appendix c .
No kites were reported from the lake after May 1913 until late Janua y 1938. This hiatus in the records may be the result of a lack of ornitht -ogical work in that part of the lake occupied by the species rather th 11 their absence for that 24-year period. Alexander Sprunt, Jr., began ro -tine observations in the region in 1935 that continued until 1963, ge 1-erally from October through April (Alexander Sprunt, IV, pers. comm I. On 23 January 1938 he reported a kite at Worm Cove. In March he si v 3 at this same place (Alexander Sprunt, Jr., unpubl. field notes). T n active nests were found in the spring of 1938 on Redlight Reef [Obs< r-vation Reef or Shoal] (Sprunt 1945, Samuel A. Grimes pers. comm ). From 1939 through 1950, numerous kite sightings were made, and 1 female specimen and 5 egg sets were collected (Appendix 3). The es i-mate of 100 kites in the Lake Okeechobee region in 1950, attributed 0 L. T. Stem (Bauer 1967), is either a misprint or a gross overestimate. T ie highest reliable figure reported on the lake during this period was 27 individuals and 10 nests in 1941 (Schroder 1948, 1953) and 12 birds in March 1950 (Skelton 1951).
For the period 1951-1960, the greatest number of kites reported v as 11 in 1956 (Wachenfeld 1956), and in that same year 7 nests were fou id (files of Natl. Audubon Soc, Tavernier, Fla.). Kites were reported each year during this 10-year period except in 1952 and 1954. During this period 7 clutches of eggs were collected on the lake; the last on 4 February 1956 by D. J. Nicholson (Dixon Coll. 20-3). From 1961 to 1970, numerous sightings were made, with up to 6 birds seen at a time (1962 and 1968) and 7 nests were located. Charles E. Carter collected a clutch of eggs (Snyder Coll. 1121) from one of these nests at Moonshine Bay on 18 April 1961.
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Since the 1971 drought, kites have used Lake Okeechobee almost continually and in increasing numbers: 31 in May 1971, 11 in December J972, 42 in May 1973 (Rod Chandler pers. comm.), 41 in April 1974, and 39 in April 1975 (Rod Chandler field notes). Annual censusing produced the following results: 34 in November 1975, 51 in December 1976, 48 in ovember 1977, 46 in December 1978, 114 in November 1979, and 214 December 1980. Breeding activity has also increased: 5 nests in 1972, i in 1973 (Chandler and Anderson 1974), and 23 each in 1974, 1975, d 1976 (Rod Chandler pers. comm.). The nest totals for each year in-( ide renesting attempts. The marsh on the west side of Lake Okeecho-1 e in eastern Glades County represents the second most important habitat i kites in Florida.
( iLOOSAHATCHEE RlVER DRAINAGE AND VICINITY
39. Lee County. A male (UF 2408) was collected in March 1904 by I D. Hoyt. A clutch of eggs (MCZ 8483) was taken from a nest in sawgrass 1 rdering a lake on 20 April 1914 by Oscar E. Baynard. Loren Brown c lected 2 clutches (AMNH 6962 and 8124) in March 1923 for P. B. 1 ilipp. No specific localities were given for these sets.
10. Caloosahatchee River. J. F. George collected a female (FMNH ] )044) on the river on 14 January 1885. Scott (1892) described the kite a a resident breeding species of the Caloosahatchee Region during his visit there from 21 November 1891 to 26 April 1892. A female (AMNH 3 2056) was taken on the river on 14 April 1907. In 1909, major chan-n iization of the river began (Elliot 1955), and the marshes along the river course were destroyed. I am aware of no recent records.
41. Lake Hicpochee. On 9 April 1906, Ike Shaw collected two clutches of eggs (WFVZ 12951, Hoy Coll. N/3) for John L. Childs near Lake Okeechobee [the locality for these sets is believed to be Lake Hicpochee]. Phelps (1912) reported seeing several kites near the lake in March 1912, and Howell (1932) stated that kites were found in numbers around the lake prior to 1932. The only recent record is of two I saw there on 31 May 1971.
42. Lake Flirt. A Mr. Hancock collected a set of eggs (WFVZ 52226) for R. D. Hoyt on 14 April 1907 near Lake Flirt. The lake and surrounding marshes were destroyed when major channelization began on the Caloosahatchee River in 1909 (Elliot 1955).
43. South of LaBelle. Howell (1932) saw what he thought to be a mated pair in a marsh surrounded by pinewoods 21 km southeast of LaBelle on 14 April 1919.
44. Ft. Myers. A female (MPM 5852), now mounted and on display at the Milwaukee Public Museum, was collected on 10 February 1895
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near Ft. Myers by Edward E. Voss. Two clutches of eggs (WFVZ 12948, DMNH 10688) were collected there by Ike Shaw on 1 June 1913. Another clutch (NMC E1154) was secured near Ft. Myers on 10 April 1914. No kites have been recorded in the area since 1914.
Loxahatchee Slough (=Loxahatchee Marsh) and West Palm Beach
45. Loxahatchee Slough and West Palm Beach. Prior to ths 1940s, marshes bordering Clear Lake and Lake Mangonia in West Pals i Beach were physically connected by marsh to the Loxahatchee Sloug i to the west and northwest and were essentially one large wetland cor -munity (Earl Diemer pers. comm.). Because the slough and West Pal i Beach marsh were physically connected, the historical records are treatc 1 together.
W Heim collected a male (FMNH 16321) in the freshwater mar i west of Palm Beach on 2 March 1896. A male (FMNH 16324) was tak< i on 28 March 1897 at Palm Beach and another (FMNH 20903) on 5 Ap, 1 at Jupiter. From 12 April through 20 July 1897, 13 clutches of eggs (A -pendix 3) were taken in the area. Additional clutches were taken, oi 3 (USNM 29477) on 17 April 1901, and another (WFVZ 16327) on 10 Ap 1 1911. C. P. Ryman collected a clutch of eggs (WFVZ 94927) on 1 M v 1913, at Palm Beach, and Howell (1932) listed two nests in Loxahatch 3 Marsh on 16 June 1913. A mounted male [no catalog number] was tak l on 6 June 1916, and is now at the Museum of Natural History, Universi y of Iowa. L. C. Sanford took a male (FMNH 59187) on 20 April 1917 a i a female (AMNH 9672) on 20 March 1920. In 1921 Howell (1932) l -ported that kites were breeding abundantly in Loxahatchee Marsh. Frc n 26 February through 11 May of that year at least 7 egg sets and 13 spe -imens (8 males, 5 females) were collected (Appendix 3). Will Lanci r collected a male (DMNH 4971, mounted and on display) on 16 Janua y
1922. Howell (1932) could find no kites in the marsh in the spring )f
1923, but Hobart Collins secured a juvenile female (VPI 3918) there n 7 February 1927. I know of no kite records in the area from 1927 un il the spring of 1970, when Herbert Gee (pers. comm.) sighted one >r more in the Lake Park Reservoir. In 1975, Ray H. Plockelman, Jr. (pes. comm.), saw one in July on the reservoir, and I found a male there m the annual kite census (27 November). On 27 May 1976 Plockelman (pe s. comm.) saw 3 in the reservoir, and on 13-14 December 1976, I recorded 2 on the annual census. I saw 6 kites in the reservoir on 20 May 1977, and 2 of the 3 males were in aerial courtship displays. No kites were found during the annual censuses in 1977-1980.
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Palm Beach County
46. Boynton Beach. During the peak of the 1971 drought, I saw a k te flying over Land O'Sun Citrus Groves, 0.4 km west of the Florida 1 rnpike and 2.3 km south of State Road 804, west of Boynton Beach on 1: May.
1 ie Big Cypress Region and Vicinity
47. Okaloacoochee Slough. J. F. Menge secured a clutch of eggs a Bonnet Lake, Lee County, on 23 April 1890. Tom Hand and Frederic 1 Kennard sighted several kites on Okaloacoochee Slough on 18 March 1 14 (Kennard 1915). I know of no records on the slough since, but very li le field work has been done there over the years. The slough and its d inage basin are now dry much of the year due to extensive drainage.
[8. Naples. Howell (1932) listed a specimen [location unknown] taken a Naples about 1 March 1918.
19. Ochopee. Louis A. Stimson saw a kite over the marsh south of t! Tamiami Trail at Ochopee, Collier County, on 3-4 April 1963 (Mason
1: >5).
>0. Monroe Station. During the peak of the 1971 drought, George S vs saw a kite along the Tamiami Trail 9.7 km west of Monroe Station, C dier County, on 17 May (John C. Ogden pers. comm.).
51. Monroe County. J. B. Ellis collected a clutch of eggs (UF 1105) ir he county in April 1900. The specific locality was not given.
Tke Everglades
52. Everglades East and Southeast of Lake Okeechobee. W. F. Sanford collected an immature male (AMNH 750121) in the Everglades east of Lake Okeechobee on 4 March 1913. On 1 May 1913 C. P. Ryman collected a clutch of eggs (WFVZ 94927) and 2 specimens southeast of Lake Okeechobee for the Wheeler Brothers. The locations of the specimens are unknown.
53. 64 km West of West Palm Beach. Ike Lee collected a clutch of eggs (USNM 45861) for H. H. Bailey 64 km west of West Palm Beach on 26 February 1921.
54. Everglades Agricultural Area. Sprunt (1942) reported four nests in a marsh south of Clewiston on 2 and 9 November 1941. Two kites were seen south of Little Bare Beach, Palm Beach County, flying over sugarcane fields in January 1956 (Alexander Sprunt, IV, pers. comm.). I saw a brown plumaged bird around a small pond in a pasture on the north side of U. S. Hwy. 27, 6.4 km west of Clewiston, Hendry County,
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from 31 May through 23 September 1971.
55. Loxahatchee N.W.R. The refuge comprises all of Conservation Area 1 and two tracts adjoining the conservation area, one on the east (Compartments A, B, and C, 267 ha) and the other on the southwest (Compartment D, 526 ha). The Loxahatchee N.W.R. should not be confused with the Loxahatchee Slough, or Marsh, which lies to the northeast of the refuge in the same county. Stieglitz and Thompson (1967:6) made this mistake in interpreting the accounts in Howell (1932) and Bent (1937). The southern part of the refuge occupies that part of the Everglades known as the Hillsboro Marsh. The refuge was created on 1 January 1951 (Cooperative Lease Agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District, 1 January 1951). No kites were recorded in this area before it became a refuge, probably because access was too difficult. From 1951 through 1960, occasional sightings of 1 to 3 kites were recorded annually on the refuge (Refuge Narrative Reports 1951-1960), except in 1954, 1955, 1958, and 1960. During the 1961-1970 period, frequent sightings were made on the refuge: 2 kites in 1961 and 1962, 7 individuals and 5 nests (only 2 used) in 1963, 19 and 1 nest in 1964, none in 1965, 13 in 1966, none in 1967 and 1968, 31 in 1969, and 46 and 11 nests in 1970. Kites were recorded each year from 1971 through 1980. A maximum of 6 kites was seen on the refuge in 1971, 4 in 1972, 21 in 1973, 28 and 8 nests in 1974, 20 and 3 nests in 1975, 6 to 10 and 1 nest in 1976, 5 in 1977, 3 in 1978, and 1-2 in 1979 and 1980. None was recorded on the 1980 annual census in December.
56. Conservation Area 2A (CA2A). Although kites obviously have occurred in that part of the Everglades that is now CA2A, the earliest report for which we can be absolutely certain was the sighting of a male north of Big Rubber Tree Island (central part of the area) by Frank Ligas (pers. comm.) on 4 October 1957. There were no other reports until Richard L. Thompson and Walter O. Stieglitz saw 8 on 24 August 1965 (Stevenson 1966). In February 1966 Stieglitz and Thompson (1967) reported 21 birds. For the remainder of 1966, Norman Holgersen saw 4 to 20 kites (unpubl. field notes). In the first half of 1967, 4 to 9 kites were seen regularly (Norman Holgersen unpubl. field notes), and 3 nests were found by Earl Diemer (pers. comm.). On 28 October 1967, Earl Diemer and I saw 39 kites in CA2A. Throughout 1968 I saw 20 to 50+ kites in the area and located 11 nests. Up to 89 kites and 15 nests were recorded in 1969. During the 1968-1969 period most of the Florida population was in CA2A. Four nests and 24 birds were seen in 1970. In 1971, the year of the big drought, 43 kites were seen but no nesting occurred. Since 1971 kite use in CA2A has drastically diminished with a maximum of 7 in 1972, none in 1973, 2 in 1974, 7 in 1975, 5 in 1976, 2 in 1977, and
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none reported in 1978, 1979, or 1980. The Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District (now South Florida Water Management District) lowered the water level in the spring and early summer of 1973 as a management procedure (J. Walter Dineen pers. comm.), and most of the area was dry for several months. There was no nesting in CA2A during the 1970-1980 period.
57. Conservation Area 2B (CA2B). As in CA2A, kites undoubtedly )ccurred historically in what is now CA2B, but data prior to 1968 are lacking. I saw no kites there in 1968 and 1969. In 1970, 20 were seen, 1 lest located, and 2 females were found shot in late December (skin, UM 3500, J. Walter Dineen pers. comm.; skeleton, UMMZ 216657 Roger \. Martz and Bertram G. Murray, Jr., pers. comm.). On 28 January 1971, 10 birds were sighted, but none was seen again until 12 December 1978, vhen 6 were counted on the annual census. Then on the annual census if 8 November 1979, 41 birds were counted along the southern and eastern edge of the area. The annual census on 78 December 1980 revealed 115 kites in the same parts of CA2B as in 1979.
58. New River Canal. W R. Collins collected a female (UMMZ 32045) on New River Canal on 15 April 1913. Exactly where along the )6.5 km-long canal was not specified.
59. 64 km South of Lake Okeechobee. J. F. Menge collected a dutch of eggs (WFVZ 12949) in the Everglades 64 km south of [Lake] Okeechobee on 28 March 1898. This location may have been in what is low CA3A.
60. Head of New River. Sidney S. Holt collected a male (PMNH 5799) at the head of New River in the Everglades on 25 January 1897.
61. Conservation Area 3A (CA3A). As in Loxahatchee N.W.R., CA2A, and CA2B, kites undoubtedly occurred in what is now CA3A, but data prior to 1954 are lacking. Frank Ligas (pers. comm.) saw 2 kites along levee L37 west of Jomo City on 11 October 1954. This settlement was formerly along U. S. Hwy. 27 just south of Andytown. Ligas (pers. comm., Stevenson 1958) sighted single birds along Hwy. 27 from Andy-town to the Miami Canal in 1955, 1956, and 1959. Janice (Mrs. W. J.) Bolte photographed a kite near Andytown in mid-August 1960 (Robertson and Paulson 1961, Bolte 1961). In the summer of 1961, Ligas saw 1 to 3 birds near Andytown (Robertson 1961, Stevenson 1962). Three stayed at the same locality in the winter of 1961-1962 (files of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Delray Beach, Fla.). Erwin Winte and Lee Cunningham saw a kite on 15 and 29 September 1963 between water-control structures S-12-A and S-12-B along the Tamiami Trail (U. S. Hwy. 41) in the southern part of CA3A (Cunningham 1964), and Earl Moore sighted 2 kites approximately 9.7 km northeast of 40-mile Bend in December 1965 (files of Everglades Nad. Park, Homestead, Fla.). From late May through
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28 October 1967 up to 6 birds were seen in southeast CA3A near the Tamiami Trail by many observers (John C. Ogden pers. comm., Stevenson 1968), including the author. Two were seen along levee L-67A just north of the trail on 4 July 1968. A bird was seen in southern CA3A on 6 June 1969 but was not found there on the annual kite census in early December.
From 1970 through 1980, the heaviest kite use in Florida was in the southern and southeastern parts of CA3A. The increase in kite use in CA3A since 1974 has been in direct proportion to the overall populatioi increases. It has been the major kite breeding ground since 1976.
Two kites were seen 8 km south of Alligator Alley and about 6.4 kn west of the Miami Canal on 19 January 1970, with a nest there that spring This was the first nest found in CA3A. In late 1970 I counted 65 birds ii the southeastern sector (24 September) and 51 in the southern am southwestern sectors (30 November-2 December). In 1971, 36 were re corded in CA3A on 3-5 February, 10 in the southern part on 13 March 5 along the Trail on 19 April, and 4 in the southeast corner on 19 May R. Curry counted 44 at a roost in southeast CA3A on 18 July 1971 (Ogdei 1971). S. D. Schemnitz (pers. comm.) saw 3 birds along L-28 south o Alligator Alley on the west side of the area on 7-13 October 1971. I sav 7 in southern and eastern Area 3 on 25 October, 12 in the same genera locality on 7 November, and 39 on the annual census 910 December.
In 1972, S. D. Schemnitz (pers. comm.) also saw one 5.6 km west o water structure S-12-D along the Tamiami Trail on 9 January and 1 alon the Miami Canal near the South New River Canal on 18 January. On 10 11 May that year 15 were recorded in CA3A. Through May, June, am July single birds were seen along the Trail and levee L-67A. William B Robertson, Jr. (pers. comm.) saw a kite in south-central CA3A from a kn flying plane on 20 October, and I recorded 15 in eastern and souther CA3A on 26 October. During 1972 Charles and Ella Newell (1973) sav up to 8 kites along Alligator Alley from the vicinity of the toll gate a Andytown west for several kilometers. The annual census on 18 Decern ber 1972 recorded 53 in southern CA3A. In January and February 1973 1 to 2 were seen in the southeastern corner. On annual censuses, 63 kite were recorded in 1973, 48 in 1974, and 62 in 1975. During the spring of 1976, 10+ nests were discovered, and up to 34 kites were seen in th( eastern part of the area in March. This was only the second time kite were documented nesting in CA3A. In December 1976, 84 kites wen recorded on the annual census, and 7+ nests were in progress at thai time. More than 50 kites were seen on 19 May 1977 in eastern CA3A and nesting activities continued. The annual census that year of 19-20 November revealed 100 birds. During 1978, nesting activity in this area surpassed anything recorded before in Florida. By mid-April Noel F. R.
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Snyder and I had located 50+ active nests. Nesting activity continued dirough the summer. The annual census on 12-18 December tallied 212 dtes, reflecting the results of this increased nesting activity. The popu-ation increase in CA3A continued, with 273 on the annual census in .979 and 305 in 1980.
62. Tamiami Trail. Bent (1937) saw a kite just north of the Tamiami rail on the western edge of the Everglades in March 1930. This sighting right possibly have been in what is now CA3A near 40-mile Bend. CA3A vas created by the completion of the levee system in June 1965 (Anonymous 1965).
63. Conservation Area 3B (CA3B). Kites were observed periodi-ally from 1970 to 1980 along the west edge of CA3B, primarily between evees L67A and L-67C and in the southwest corner.
64. East of Conservation Area 3B. A bird was seen at the inter-ection of U. S. Hwy. 27 and State Road 820 (Hollywood Road), Broward bounty, by Clark Olson and George Brown on 10 June 1967 (John C. Jgden pers. comm.).
65. Head of Miami River and Vicinity. Edward Harris (1844) col-jcted an immature male (ANSP 1942) near the head of the Miami River n 29 April 1844 in what at that time was the eastern edge of the Ever-lades. This was the first record of the Snail Kite in the United States, he locality is near the rapids on the north fork of the Miami River. The ipids existed until circa 1909; they were destroyed when the Miami ^anal was dug (Hart 1975). According to Parker et al. (1955) this site is
just west of the present NW 27th Avenue Bridge in the City of Miami ; ud approximately 2.4 km east of the Miami International Airport.
A. L. Heerman collected 4 specimens in the same general locality at the head of the Miami River on 6 May 1848 (Howell 1932). USNM 11955 is probably one of these (Deignan 1961). On 18 February 1870 C. J. Maynard saw a kite and on 28 February secured 3 specimens [present iocations of which are unknown], and found a partly completed nest near the river in the Everglades (Baird et al. 1874). On 24 March 1870, Maynard found a second nest and collected the one egg (MCZ 4260; clutch incomplete) and the female of this nest (Baird et al. 1874). A female (Zool. Institute, Acad. Sci., Leningrad, 132960) was taken on 3 March 1871, with the locality marked "Miami" and no collector listed. This specimen was acquired from the MCZ, Harvard (A. I. Ivanov pers. comm.). On 25 March 1871, Maynard collected a male (USNM 61187) near the head of the Miami River in the Everglades. This is the type specimen for R. s, plumbeus (Baird et al. 1874). On 16 March 1883, E. W. Montreuil collected 2 downy chicks (unsexed) (MCZ 208238 and BMNH 1887-5-1-1009), a male (MCZ 208236), a female (MCZ 208237), and a clutch of eggs (AMNH 424; Bailey 1884), all in the Everglades near
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Miami. A juvenile male (UMMZ 12146) and an unsexed brown bird (SDNMH 19910) were taken in the winter of 1884 on the Miami River and a female (AMNH 470952) at the same locality on 10 December 1884. An Indian collected a clutch of eggs (USNM 28428) for W. L. Ralph near Miami on 5 March 1897, and an immature male (PMNH 8775) was taken at that locality on 20 May 1899. A local guide presented A. C. Bent (1937) a set of eggs (UF 52273) and a specimen (unsexed) that were collected near Miami on 28 April 1903. The location of this skin is unknown On 2 March 1904, J. F. George secured a juvenile female (FMNH 130045 and a juvenile male (FMNH 130046) at Miami. W. S. Dickerson col lected 4 specimens near Miami in early October 1904, a female (MC/ 300635) on 2 October and 2 females (MGZ 300635 and ROM 35684) an< a male (AMNH 352055) on 5 October.
66. Dade County. Dade County was established 4 February 1836 and until the early 1900s comprised what is now Broward, Dade, anc Palm Beach counties. Palm Beach County separated from Dade on 3( April 1909 and Broward from Dade on 30 April 1915. The following re cords list only Dade County for the locality. W. B. Porter collected a se of eggs (USNM 24842) on 15 April 1891 and J. T. Albritton took an adul male (MCZ 252439) on 28 April 1903. From 1912 through 1915, 21 clutche of eggs were listed as taken in Dade County, and 2 more clutches wen secured in March 1917 (Appendix 3).
67. Paradise Key and Vicinity. Paradise Key is on Taylor Sloug! in the southern part of the Everglades. In 1915 the area became Roys Palm State Park, which, in turn, became part of the Everglades Nation; Park in 1947 (Tebeau 1971). Bent (1937) reported a small breeding colon of kites near there in 1904, and Mrs. Hiram Byrd had a sighting on 2 May 1915. Other early records include a pair seen there on 26-27 Janu ary 1918 (Howell 1921), one found there by Arthur H. Howell on 19 Jum 1918, and several sightings in October 1918 by Charles A. Mosier, Par Warden (Howell 1921). H. H. Bailey collected a male (VPI 2215) soutl of Royal Palm State Park on 3 January 1925, and A. H. Howell (1932 secured a female (MVZ 80895) at the hammock 1 December 1928 ant saw another kite there the next day.
68. Cuthbert Lake. A. C. Bent and Herbert K. Job saw 6 kites at: roost at Cuthbert Lake on 1 May 1903 (Dutcher 1904, Job 1905). Th< Lake is at the inland edge of the mangrove forest and at the southerr end of the true Everglades.
69. Northeast of West Lake. J. C. Howell (unpubl. field note book) saw 2 kites about 5 km northeast of West Lake in the southern Everglades on 28 March 1934.
70. Everglades National Park (ENP). The park was established in 1947 (Tebeau 1971). Paradise Key, Cuthbert Lake, West Lake, 64 km
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southwest of Miami, headwaters of Harney River, head of Shark River, and Big Sawgrass are all within the present boundary of the park.
Erwin Winte saw a Snail Kite 1.6 km east of Onion Slough on 2 June 1948 (files ENP), and Charles Brookfield (1949) saw one at Taylor Slough near Paradise Key on 30 October that same year. Winte (files ENP) reported seeing single birds in Shark Valley on 19 December 1954 and at "he headwaters of the Shark River on 8 January 1955. He saw 1 or more birds south of the Tamiami Trail in March and April 1955 (Stevenson L955b) and 2 at the 7-mile fire tower in Shark Valley on 19 April 1955. vVinte and Lee Chamberlain saw a kite just south of water control struc-ures S-12-A and B in the northern part of the park on 29 September 1963 (Cunningham 1964). M. Holden and Ralph Miele saw 3 kites along evee L67 extension in the northeastern part of the park on 17 May L967 (John C. Ogden pers. comm.). On 8 July 1967, Ogden saw a bird )ver Royal Palm Visitor Center and in that part of the park called the iole-in-the-Donut. Winte saw 3 on the west side of levee L67 exten-;ion about 8 km south of the Tamiami Trail on 9 July; two days later Jgden and William B. Robertson, Jr., saw 2 in the same place. On 21 :uly 1967 Miele and Ogden saw 2 hunting over Taylor Slough, 2.4 km iouth of Royal Palm Visitor Center (John C. Ogden pers. comm.). Park angers reported up to 8 kites in the northeast sector of the park during November 1967 (Robertson 1968). On 5 August 1969, Ogden (pers. comm.) and others saw a kite along the Shark Valley Loop Road, and in December that year I counted 9 in the northern part of the park on the annual census. I saw 1 to 5 kites on the south side of water control structure S-12-D on 1 and 9 May 1970 and 13 in the northern part of the park on the annual census 2 December 1970. During 1971 I saw up to 14 birds in the northern part of the park, the number decreasing to 6 by December. From 1972 through 1978 only an occasional kite was seen south of the Tamiami Trail in the park. From 1 to 10 kites were seen from 17 May to 24 August 1979 from the northeastern part of the park east to the old Blue Shanty Canal (Oron L. Bass, Jr. pers. comm.). George Avery and Robert P. Russell, Jr. (pers. comm.) saw a brown kite south of Sweet Bay Pond on 6 September 1979. Throughout 1979 and early 1980 many kites were seen in the vicinity of the Shark Valley Loop Road, and on the annual census 23 November 1979, 3 were seen 8-10 km SSW of Royal Palm Visitor Center on Taylor Slough. On the 1980 annual census 14 kites were found in the Park, 1 along levee L-67 Extension near its southern end, 1 just north of Rookery Branch in the southern part of Shark Valley Slough, and 12 on Taylor Slough south of the Royal Palm Visitors Center.
71. Southwest of Miami Opposite Key Largo. Five clutches (USNM 28422, 28423, 28425, 28426 and MNHOS 2597) were collected
BULLETIN FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM Vol. 29, No. 6
southwest of Miami opposite Key Largo in the southeastern part of the Everglades by Charlie Billie for William L. Ralph on 13 March 1897. On 23 April 1899, a male (CM 3764) and a second bird (correct sex of this bird is questionable) (CM 3765) were collected near Card Sound by Frederic S. Webster. William B. Robertson, Jr. (pers. comm.) saw a browi late just west of U. S. Hwy. 1 and about 5 km north of C-ll canal on 4 October 1979, and Robert P. Russell, Jr. (pers. comm.) counted 1 to 3 birds in die same area in late October and early November. A kite was seen here again in the fall of 1980 (C. Wesley Biggs pers. comm.).
72. 64 km Southwest of Miami. R. D. Hoyt collected a clutch of eggs 64 km southwest of Miami on 14 May (MCZ 8481) and another 01 IS May 1902 (SBMNH 362-138).
73. Everglades. For 17 specimens and 4 sets of eggs, dating fron 1883 to 1916, the labels state only Everglades, with no specific localit given (Appendix 3).
74. Everglades, Monroe County. Three clutches of eggs (WFVr, 12950, MCZ 8484, SBCM 9884) were collected in April of 1911 and 191: in that part of the Everglades within Monroe County by J. B. Ellis, o Chokoloskee, Florida. No specific localities were given.
75. Headwaters of Harney River. Hugh L. Willoughby, in com pany of Ed Brewer, a local guide and hunter, saw 2 kites at the headwa ters of the Harney River, Monroe County, on 9 January 1897, in tin course of their journey across the southern Everglades by canoe (Wil loughby 1898).
76. Head of Shark River. On 23 February 1935, Alexander Sprunt Jr. (unpubl. field notes), saw a kite flying over the mangroves at the hea< of Shark River.
77. Big Sawgrass. The Big Sawgrass appears to be the name givei by early residents to the general area of the southern Everglades in thi vicinity of Whitewater Bay in what is now the Everglades National Park Outram Bangs collected a male (MCZ 111499) and a female (MCZ 111500 there on 20 May 1902. An unknown collector took a clutch of eggs (AMN1 8123) there on 26 April 1907, saw two pairs of kites, and found a secohc nest.
Southern Florida
78. Southern Florida. A female (MCZ 100918) was collected at ai unspecified locality in southern Florida on 5 May 1883. This specimer was obtained from C. K. Worthen, a dealer in bird specimens and eggs.
Florida Keys
79. Plantation Key. C. N. Grimshawe and Louise Moore sighted 2 kites on the southern end of Plantation Key in January 1942 (Moore
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1942). If the sighting is valid, it is remarkable, as there are no permanent jodies of fresh water on the Upper Keys, and as yet we have no evidence chat Snail Kites move between Florida and Cuba, although such movements may occur.
>tate of Florida
80. Florida. Some of the Snail Kite material in collections simply has Florida" on the labels and in the catalogues, including skins of 4 males, 5 females, 3 unsexed birds, and a set of eggs (Appendix 3).
Iecords of Snail Kites in the United States Outside Florida
Long County, Georgia. During the 1971 drought in Florida, there vas an unconfirmed sight record of 1 and possibly 2 Snail Kites approxi-nately 4.8 km southeast of Ludowici on State Road 99 in the Coastal ^lain of Georgia on 23 April (Ernest Provost and David Peterson pers. omm.).
Southern Texas. On 4 October 1971, Jimmie and John C. Arvin aw a Snail Kite at the southern end of Padre Island, Cameron County, he first record for the species in Texas (Webster 1972). Harold R. Holt ind James A. Lane saw another 9.7 km south of Port Lavaca, Calhoun "ounty, on 26 April 1974 (Webster 1974). Richard O. Albert and others aw a brown plumaged bird at Lake Alice, Jim Wells County, on 22-26 uly 1977, and Tom Albert and others saw one at the same locality for several days in July 1978 (Webster 1977, 1978). The four sightings are tndoubtedly R. s. major from Mexico, as Webster (1972, 1977) suggested, rather than R. s. plumbeus from Florida or Cuba.
literature cited
Amadon, D. 1975. Variation in the Everglade Kite. Auk 92:380-382.
Anonymous. 1965. Civil works monthly schedule and progress report (April and August),
Construction Div., U. S. Army, Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, Florida. Bailey, H. B. 1884. Breeding habits of the Everglade Kite. Auk 1:95. Baird, S. F., T. M. Brewer, and R. Ridgway. 1874. A history of North American birds.
Vol. 3. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. Baker, F. C. 1889. Contents of the stomach of certain birds collected in Brevard County,
Florida, between January 5 and April 15, 1889. Ornithol. Oolog. 14:139-140. Barbour, T. 1943. Cuban ornithology. Mem. Nuttall Ornithol. Club No. 9. Bauer, E. A. 1967. The sunset of the Snail Kite. Field & Stream 72(4):58-60. Bent, A. C. 1937. Life histories of North American birds of prey. Part 1. U. S. Natl. Mus.
Bull. 167.
Binford, L. C. 1968. Preliminary survey of the avifauna of the Mexican State of Oaxaca.
Ph.D. thesis, Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge. Blake, E. R. 1953. Birds of Mexico. Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.
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Boardman, G. A. 1884. Natural historybird notes. Forest and Stream 22:203. Bond, J. 1956. Checklist of birds of the West Indies. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 4th ed. ix + 214 pp.
Bolte, W. J. 1961. Field notes and observationsan Everglade Kite. Florida Nat. 34:160. Brewster, W. 1881. With the birds on a Florida river. Bull. Nuttall Ornithol. Club 6:38-44.
Brookfield, C. M. 1949. Florida region. Audubon Field Notes 3:12-13.
-. 1951. Florida region. Audubon Field Notes 5:200-201.
Chandler, R., and J. M. Anderson. 1974. Notes on Everglade Kite reproduction. Amer. Birds 28:856, 858.
Collett, S. F. 1977. Sizes of snails eaten by Snail Kites and Limpkins in a Costa Ricai
marsh. Auk 94:365-367. Committee on Rare and Endangered Species. 1966. Rare and endangered fish and wild
life of the United States. Bur. Sport Fish. Wildl., Washington, D.C., Resource Publ
34.
Cunningham, R. L. 1964. Florida region. Audubon Field Notes 18:24-28.
Deignan, H. G. 1961. Type specimens of birds in the United States National Museum
U. S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 221. Dutcher, W. 1904. Report of the A.O.U. Committee on the Protection of North Americai
Birds for the year 1903. Auk 21(Suppl.):97-208. Edwards, E. P. 1972. A field guide to the birds of Mexico. Ernest P. Edwards, Swee
Briar, Virginia.
Elliot, F. C. 1955. The Everglades. Florida flood control program of progress, Belle Glade Florida. South Florida Flood Control District, West Palm Beach, Memo 10 pp.
Fargo, W. G. 1934. Walter John Hoxie. Wilson Bull. 46:169-196.
Farrar, M. C. 1951. Philadelphia Vireo seen on Florida trip. Florida Nat. 24:33-34.
ffrench, R. 1973. A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago. Livingston Publ. Co. Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.
Friedmann, H. 1950. The birds of North and Middle America. U. S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 50 Part 11.
Garrido, O. H., and F. G. Montana. 1975. Catalogo de las aves de Cuba. Acad. Cien Cuba, La Habana.
Grimes, S. A. 1944. Birds of Duval County (continuing). Florida Nat. 17:21-31. Griscom, L. 1932. The ornithology of the Caribbean coast of extreme eastern Panama
Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., Harvard Univ. 72:313. Harris, E. 1844. Meeting of business, May 28, 1844. Proc. Acad. Sci. Philadelphia (1844-
45) 2:65.
Hart, E. 1975. Pioneers remember old days. Miami Herald, 30 Oct. 1975, Sect. F:l, 6. Haverschmidt, F. 1968. Birds of Surinam. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, Scotland. Hellmayr, C. E., and B. Conover. 1949. Catalogue of birds of the Americas. Field Mus
Nat. Hist., Chicago. Zool. Ser. 13, Part 1, No. 4. Howell, A. H. 1921. A list of the birds of Royal Palm Hammock, Florida. Auk 38:250-
263.
-. 1932. Florida bird life. Florida Dept. Game and Fresh Water Fish, Tallahas
see.
Job, J. K. 1905. Wild wings. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., New York. Kennard, F. H. 1915. The Okaloacoochee Slough. Auk 32:154-166.
Land, H. C. 1963. A collection of birds from the Caribbean lowlands of Guatemala. Condor 65:49-65.
-. 1970. Birds of Guatemala. Livingston. Publ. Co., Wynnewood, Pennsylvania.
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SYKES: FLORIDA SNAIL KITE
255
Mason, C. R. 1939. New species for Seminole County. Florida Nat. 12:100-101.
-. 1965. Everglade Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) along Route 60. Florida Nat.
38:60.
Meyer de Schauensee, R., and W. H. Phelps, Jr. 1978. A guide to the birds of Venezuela.
Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey. Monroe, B. L., Jr. 1968. A distributional survey of the birds of Honduras. AOU Ornithol.
Monogr. No. 7.
Moore, L. 1942. Report of the Miami Audubon Society. Florida Nat. 15:49-50. Newell, C, and E. Newell. 1973. Everglade Kite (Florida, Andytown). Birding5:13. Nicholson, D. J. 1926. Nesting habits of the Everglade Kite in Florida. Auk 43:62-67.
-. 1951. Notes on breeding of Everglade Kite in Florida. Florida Nat. 24:115.
Ogden, J. C. 1971. Florida region. Amer. Birds 25:846-851.
-, and H. M. Stevenson. 1965. Florida region. Audubon Field Notes 19:534-
537.
Parker, G. G., G. E. Ferguson, S. K. Love, and others. 1955. Water resources of Southeastern Florida. U.S. Geol. Surv., Washington, D.C., Water-supply Paper 1255.
Peterson, R. T. 1973. A field guide to Mexican birds. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.
-, and J. Fisher. 1955. Wild America. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.
Phelps, F. M. 1912. A March bird list from the Caloosahatchee River and Lake Okeechobee. Wilson Bull. 24:117-125.
Ridgely, R. S. 1976. A guide to the birds of Panama. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
Robertson, W. B., Jr. 1961. Florida region. Audubon Field Notes 15:461-464.
-. 1968. Florida region. Audubon Field Notes 22:25-31.
-, and D. R. Paulson. 1961. Florida region. Audubon Field Notes 15:26-35.
Russell, S. M. 1964. A distributional study of the birds of British Honduras. AOU Ornithol. Monogr. No. 1.
Schroder, H. H. 1948. Snail Kites. Nature Magazine 41(3):129-131.
-. 1953. The vanishing Everglade Kite. Frontiers 17(4):116-118.
Schwartz, A., and R. F. Klinikowski. 1963. Observations on West Indian birds. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 115:53-77.
Scott, W. E. D. 1881. On birds observed in Sumpter, Levy, and Hillsborough counties, Florida. Bull. Nuttall Ornithol. Club 6:14-21.
-. 1982. Notes on the birds of the Caloosahatchee Region of Florida. Auk 9:209-
218.
Skelton, K. G. 1951. Present size of the Everglade Kite population at Lake Okeechobee,
Florida. Wilson Bull. 63:198-199. Slud, P. 1964. The birds of Costa Rica. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull. 128:1-430. Sprunt, A., Jr. 1942. Remarkable nesting date of the Everglade Kite. Auk 59:585-586.
-. 1945. The phantom of the marshes. Audubon Mag. 47:15-22.
-. 1954. Florida bird life. Natl. Audubon Soc, Coward-McCann, Inc., New
York.
Stevenson, H. M. 1951a. St. Marks, Fla. Christmas Bird Count. Audubon Field Notes 5:106-107.
-. 1951b. Unusual records from the Tallahassee region. Florida Nat. 24:60.
-. 1955a. Florida region. Audubon Field Notes 9:19-22.
-. 1955b. Florida region. Audubon Field Notes 9:326-328.
-. 1958. Florida region. Audubon Field Notes 12:21-26.
-. 1962. Florida region. Audubon Field Notes 16:21-25.
-. 1966. Florida region. Audubon Field Notes 20:30-35.
-. 1968. Florida's first summer bird count. Florida Nat. 41:43-47.
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-. 1975. Florida region. Amer. Birds 29:679-683.
Stieglitz, W. O., and R. L. Thompson. 1967. Status and life history of the Everglade Kite in the United States. U. S. Fish Wildl. Serv., Washington, D. C, Spec. Sci. Rep.. Wildl. No. 109.
Stoddard, H. L. 1950. Wakulla County bird notes. Florida Nat. 23:98-100.
Swann, H. K. 1934. Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus Ridgway, Northern Everglade Kite
P. 249 in A monograph of the birds of prey. Part 12. A. Wetmore (ed.). Wheldon and
Wesley, Ltd., London. Sykes, P. W., Jr. 1978. Everglade Kite. Pp. 4-7 in Rare and endangered biota of Florida
Vol. 2. Birds. H. W. Kale, II (ed.). Univ. Presses Florida, Gainesville. -. 1979. Status of the Everglade Kite in Florida1968-1978. Wilson Bull
91:495-511.
-, and H. W. Kale, II. 1974. Everglade Kites feed on nonsnail prey. Auk 91:818
820.
Tebeau, C. W. 1971. A history of Florida. Univ. Miami Press, Coral Gables. Wachenfeld, A. W. 1956. Present status of Everglade Kite. Linnaean News-letter 10(3): 1 Wayne, A. T. 1895. Notes on the birds of the Wacissa and Aucilla River regions of Florid;' Auk 12:326-367.
Webster, F. S., Jr. 1972. South Texas region. Amer. Birds 26:84-88.
-. 1974. South Texas region. Amer. Birds 28:822-825.
-. 1977. South Texas region. Amer. Birds 31:1158-1160.
-. 1978. South Texas region. Amer. Birds 32:1028-1031.
Wetmore, A. 1965. The birds of the Republic of Panama. Part 1. Smithsonian Misc. Coll 150.
Whitefield, J. B. 1975. County names. In The Florida handbook, 15th Ed., 1975-1976
A. Morris (compl.). Peninsula Publ. Co., Tallahassee. Willoughby, H. L. 1898. Across the Evergladesa canoe journey of exploration by Hug-
L. Willoughby. F. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia. Wilson, J. L. 1971. Everglade Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) in Highlands County. Florid
Nat. 44:122.
Wolfe, L. R. 1938. Eggs of the Falconiformes (continued). Oolog. Rec. 18(1):2-10.
APPENDIX 1
Cuhated Collections with No Snail Kite Material from Florida
UNITED STATES: AlabamaUniv. Alabama. ArizonaUniv. Arizona. Califok niaLos Angeles County Mus. Nat. Hist.; Moore Lab. Zool., Occidental College; Stan ford Univ.; Sespe Mus. Comparative Zool., Filmore; Univ. California, Los Angeles. Col oradoDenver Mus. Nat. Hist.; Univ. Colorado. ConnecticutUniv. Connecticut DelawareUniv. Delaware. FloridaAlbert Schwartz Coll., Miami; Archbold Biol Sta., Lake Placid; Florida Southern College; Florida State Univ.; Florida Technologica Univ.; Mus. Sci. & Planetarium of Dade County, Miami; Tall Timbers Res. Sta., Tallahas see; Univ. Central Florida; Univ. Florida; Univ. South Florida. GeorgiaRichard A Parks Coll., Atlanta; Univ. Georgia. IllinoisIllinois State Mus.; Northern Illinois Univ. Univ. Illinois. IndianaPurdue Univ. IowaDavenport Mus. KansasUniv. Kan sas. KentuckyUniv. Louisville. LouisianaLouisiana State Univ.; Tulane Univ. MaineUniv. Maine. MassachusettsMus. Sci., Boston; Peabody Mus., Salem; Sci. Mus., Springfield; Univ. Massachusetts. MichiganCentral Michigan Univ.; Michigan
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State Univ. Mus.; Olin S. Pettingill, Jr. Coll., Pellston; Univ. Michigan Biol. Sta., Pells-ton. MinnesotaSt. Cloud State College; Univ. Minnesota. MississippiState Wildlife Mus., Jackson; Univ. Mississippi; Mississippi State Univ. MissouriUniv. Missouri. MontanaUniv. Montanta. NebraskaUniv. Nebraska. New HampshireDartmouth College Mus. New JerseyNew Jersey State Mus. New MexicoUniv. New Mexico; Western New Mexico Univ. New YorkBuffalo Mus. Sci.; Cornell Univ.; New York State Mus.; Rochester Mus.; Walter R. Spofford Coll., Etna; State Univ. College, Oneonta. North CarolinaNorth Carolina State Mus. Nat. Hist.; North Carolina State Univ. North DakotaUniv. North Dakota. OhioCincinnati Mus. Nat. Hist.; Cleveland Mus. Nat. Hist. OklahomaStovall Mus., Univ. Oklahoma; George M. Sutton Coll., Norman. OregonUniv. Oregon; Alex Walker Coll., Tillamook; PennsylvaniaEverhart Mus. Nat. Hist., Scranton; Pennsylvania State Univ; West Chester State College. South CarolinaFlorence Mus., Florence. TennesseeAlbert F. Ganier Coll., Nashville; Univ. Tennessee. TexasDallas Mus. Nat. Hist.; Travis C. Meitzen Coll., Refugio; Strecker Mus., Baylor Univ.; Texas A & M Univ.; Texas Memorial Mus., Austin; L. R. Wolfe Coll., Kerrville. UtahLife Sci. Mus., Brigham Young Univ.; Univ. Utah. VermontFairbanks Mus., St. Johnsburg. VirginiaHarold H. Bailey Coll., Rockbridge Alum Springs; Walter A. Weber Coll., Oakton. WashingtonWashington State Univ. WisconsinCarl H. Richter Coll., Oconto; Zool. Mus., Univ. Wisconsin, Madison.
CANADA: AlbertaUniv. Alberta. British ColumbiaBritish Columbia Prov. Mus. OntarioHoyes Lloyd Coll., Ottawa; Univ. Western Ontario. Saskatchewan Saskatchewan Mus. Nat. Hist.
OTHER COUNTRIES: AustriaOberosterreichisches Landesmuseum, Abteilung Zoologie, Linz; Naturhistorieches Mus. Wien, Wien. BelgiumInstitut Royal des Sci. Naturelles, Brussels. EnglandNorwich Castle Mus., Norwich. FranceMus. Natl. d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. GermanyMus. fur Naturkunde, Bereich Zoologisches Mus., Berlin. MexicoInstitute de Biologia, Univ. Nacional Autonoma, Mexico City. NetherlandsRijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden. SwedenNaturhistoriska Museet, Goteborg; Naturhistoriska Rikmuseet, Stockholm. SwitzerlandMus. d'Histoire Naturelle, Geneva; Naturhistorisches Mus., St. Gallen.
APPENDIX 2
Legal Descriptions of Florida Localities
Legal descriptions of the localities in Florida that were used by the Snail Kite during 1968-1980. The land grid references are based on the Florida coordinate system (Tallahassee Meridian).
St. Johns Reservoir. All or parts of Sections 6, 7, 18, and 19 of T-33-S, R-37-E. Cloud Lake Reservoir. S 1/2 of Section 16 and N 1/2 of Section 21, T-34-S, R-38-
E.
Strazzulla Reservoir. SW 1/4 of Section 21, T-34-S, R-38-E.
The Savannas. Parts of Section 22, 23, 26, 35, and 36, T-35-S, R-40-E.
Lake Okeechobee. Parts or all of T-39-S, R-35-E; T-39-S, R-34-E; T-40-S, R-34-E; T-40-S, R-33-E; T-40-S, R-32-E; T-41-S, R-32-E; T-41-S, R-33-E; T-41-S, R-34-E; T-42-S, R-33-E; and T-42-S, R-34-E.
Lake Park Reservoir. Parts of Sections 21, 28 and 33, T-42-S, R-42-E and Sections 4, 5, 8, 9, and 17, T-43-S, R-42-E.
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Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Parts of T-44-S, R-40-E; T-45-S, R-41-E; T-46-S, R-41-E; T-47-S, R-41-E; T-47-S, R-40-E; T-46-S, R-40-E; and T-46-S, R-39-E.
Conservation Area 2A. Parts of T-47-S, R-40-E; T-47-S, R-39-E; T-48-S, R-40-E; T-49-S, R-40-E; and T-49-S, R-39-E.
Conservation Area 2B. Parts of T-49-S, R-39-E; T-49-S, R-40-E; and T-50-S, R-40-E.
Conservation Area 3A. Parts of T-50-S, R-37-E; T-50-S, R-38-E; T-50-S, R-39 E; T-51-S, R-38-E; T-51-S, R-37-E; T-52-S, R-38-E; T-52-S, R-37-E; T-53-S, R-37-E: T-53-S, R-36-E; T-53-S, R-35-E; T-54-S, R-36-E; and T-54-S, R-35-E.
Conservation Area 3B. Part of T-54-S, R-37-E.
The Pocket. Parts of T-51-S, R-38-E; T-52-S, R-38-E; T-52-S, R-37-E; T-53-S, R-37-E; and T-54-S, R-37-E.
Everglades National Park. Parts of T-54-S, R-35-E; T-54-S, R-36-E; T-55-S, R 36-E; T-58-S, R-37-E, and T-59-S, R-37-E.
APPENDIX 3
Snail Kite Specimens, Skeletons, and Egg Sets from Florida1
This appendix contains a listing of 159 museum-type skins or mounts (73 males, 5 females, 2 juvenile males, 1 juvenile female, 5 unsexed juveniles, 1 male nestling, 2 m: sexed nestlings, and 18 specimens for which the present locations, sexes, and ages ar unknown), 148 egg sets, and 1 complete skeleton. The breakdown by decades of collectin is as follows: 1840-49, 5 skins; 1850-59 and 1860-69, no material; 1870-79, 33 skins an an egg set; 1880-89, 38 skins and an egg set; 1890-99, 26 skins and 24 egg sets; 1900-OE 16 skins and 12 egg sets; 1910-19, 14 skins and 41 egg sets; 1920-29, 38 skins and 46 eg sets; 1930-39, 3 skins and 9 egg sets; 1940-49, 2 skins and 6 egg sets; 1950-59, 7 eg sets; 1960-69, 2 skins (salvaged dead nestlings) and an egg set; 1970-79, 2 skins (salvagei female found shot, salvaged dead nestling) and a skeleton (salvaged female found shot and 1980, no material.
About 88% of the Snail Kite material collected in Florida was obtained between th mid 1870s and the late 1920s when interest in collecting skins and eggs was at its peal: laws governing regulation of such activities were weak or nonexistent, and the concept ( wildlife conservation was in its infancy. Unfortunately, few of the skins have any importar biological data on the labels (i.e. weight, reproductive condition, stomach contents, endc and ectoparasites present), primarily because such data were not considered important the time. However, the egg data sheets of many sets contain considerable informatioi that will be published (Sykes MS in prep.).
Since only one complete skeleton is known to exist for a Snail Kite from Florida, an< there is no whole (fluid/alcholic) specimen, any material of this species salvaged in th< State hereafter should be preserved as a fluid or freeze-dried specimen, or if not suitabk for soft-tissue preparation it should be skeletonized.
Big Sawgrass (Whitewater Bay Area)20 May 1902, male MCZ 111499, female MCZ 111500; 26 April 1907, AMNH 8123.
'Abbreviations for the curatorial institutions are listed in Table 1 (p. 263).
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SYKES: FLORIDA SNAIL KITE
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Brevard County5 Jan.-15 April 1889, 4 specimens [loc. spec, unk.] (Baker 1889); 30 March 1924, male UMMZ 62039, female UMMZ 62040; 30 March 1930, male MCZ 252440.
3revard County [St. Johns Marsh]5 March 1927, AMNH 6961. Caloosahatchee River14 Jan. 1885, female FMNH 130044; 14 April 1907, female AMNH 352056.
Chassahowitzka RiverSpring 1918, specimen [loc. spec. unk. ] (Howell 1932).
Conservation Area 2A1 April 1967, unsexed nestling USNM 531421; 17 March 1968, female nestling USNM 531685.
Conservation Area 2B20 Dec. 1970, female, Univ. Miami 6500; 27 Dec. 1970, female (skeleton) UMMZ 216657.
"rescent City, Vicinity of1894, near Crescent City, USNM 28048.
)ade County15 April 1891, 24842 USNM; 28 April 1903, male MCZ 252439; 18 Feb. 1912, WFVZ 8070; 20 Feb. 1912, WFVZ 79804, AMNH 8122; 25 April 1913, DMNH 10692; 26 April 1913, WFVZ 59622; 27 April 1913, UWGB 18; 28 April 1913, SBMNH 357-320; 3 June 1913, Bull Coll. 23/3; 5 June 1913, Hoy Coll. 25; 20 June 1913, WFVZ 12945; 26 March 1914, WFVZ 12946; 27 March 1914, AMNH 8126, Hoy Coll. 32, SBCM 9426; 28 March 1914, AMNH 8129, MVZ 7575, DMNH 10691; 21 May 1914, ANSP [no catalogue No.], MVZ 5155; 7 March 1915, Hoy Coll. 36a; 2 April 1915, WFVZ 6441; 10 March 1917, WFVZ 8071, AMNH 8127.
DeSoto County8 March 1888, male BMNH 1890-4-28-249, female BMNH 1890-4-28-250.
EvergladesMarch 1883, male AMNH 45042, male BMNH 1887-5-1-1007, female BMNH 1887-5-1-1008; 18 March 1883, female USNM 101402; April [1883?], unsexed AMNH 45043; May 1883, female USNM 100195; 25 Sept. 1883, female BMNH 1887-5-1-1009, unsexed BMNH 1955-6-N-20-948; 26 Sept. 1883, male MCZ [catalog No. ?]; 6 Sept. 1895, female UMMZ 217682, female DMNH 5158; 25 Feb. 1898, CM 4913; 15 April 1905, MCZ 8482; 15 Jan. 1906, female MCZ 304883, female MCZ 304884; 2 June 1913, AMNH 8128; 19 June 1913, unsexed juv. MCZ 320657; 21 June 1913, unsexed juv. MCZ 320658; [no date given; probably 1913-1914 period], SBMNH 87; 10 Jan. 1916, male MCZ 322149, female MCZ 322150.
Everglades, East of Lake Okeechobee4 March 1913, male AMNH 750121.
Everglades, Monroe CountyApril 1911, WFVZ 12950; 16 April 1912, MCZ 8484; 20 April 1912, SBCM 9884.
Everglades, 64 km South of Lake Okeechobee28 March 1898, WFVZ 12949.
Everglades, 64 km Southwest of Miami14 May 1902, MCZ 8481; 18 May 1902, SBMNH 362-138.
Everglades, 64 km West of West Palm Beach26 Feb. 1921, USNM 45861.
Everglades, Southeast of Lake Okeechobee1 May 1913, WFVZ 94927; 2 specimens [loc. spec, unk.; info from label data WFVZ 94927].
Everglades, Southwest of Miami, Opposite Key Largo13 March 1897, USNM 28422, USNM 28423, USNM 28425, USNM 28426, MNHOS 2597; 23 April 1899, Card Sound, male CM 3764, male [?] CM 3765.
FloridaMay 1876, female BMNH 1906-12-7-594; 2 April 1889, male MPM 6681, female MPM 6682; [date unk.], BMNH 1891-3-1-482; 15 April 1897, female FMNH 16322, male FMNH 16323; 1909, unsexed Calif. AS 27098; 1920, male AMNH 750120; [dates unk.], unsexed juv. BMNH 1955-6-N-20-946, male BMNH 1955-6-N-20-950; [date unk.], unsexed ANSP 1943; [date unk.], USNM 16827.
Florida, Southern5 May 1883, female MCZ 100918.
Ft. Myers, Vicinity of10 Feb. 1895, female (mounted) MPM 5852; 1 June 1913, WFVZ 12948, DMNH 10688; 10 April 1914, NMC E1154.
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Indian River, Southern PartSummer 1874, female ROM 35683. Jacksonville, Vicinity of[circa Feb.] 1884, 3 specimens [loc. spec, unk.] (Board-man 1884, Grimes 1944). Kissimmee Prairie[6] Nov. 1888, specimen [loc. spec, unk.] (Fargo 1934). Kissimmee RiverFeb. 1888, female FMNH 37653. Lake Butler [= Lake Tarpon]10 May 1895, male ANSP 45611. Lake Flirt14 April 1907, near Lake Flirt, WFVZ 52226.
Lake Hicpochee9 April 1906, near Lake Okeechobee [probably Lake Hicpochee].
WFVZ 12951, Hoy Coll. N/3. Lake Monroe7 Feb. 1883, male FMNH 37654.
Lake Okeechobee, West SideNov. 1884, male FMNH 130047; 20 April 1906, SBCM 9631; 30 Oct. 1908, female MVZ 6518, male MVZ 6517: 20 May 1913, WFVZ 12953. WFVZ 12954; 21 May 1913, WFVZ 12952; 22 May 1913, Hoy Coll. 4/4; 23 May 1913. USNM 43605; 4 May 1940, Charleston Mus. LO/1; 15 March 1943 [probably Lak( Okeechobee], CU 10005; 13 May 1943, 8 km north of Moore Haven, female nestling UMMZ 121468; Red Reef Point, WFVZ 79290; 10 April 1944 [probably Lake Okeecho bee], CU 11093; 17 Feb. 1945, 16 km NE of Moore Haven, MCZ 12435; 28 March 1953 Moonshine Bay, CM 4914; 31 March 1953, Moonshine Bay, WFVZ 79289, DMNH 5058 4 Feb. 1955, DMNH 5055, 5056; 5 Feb. 1955, DMNH 5057; 4 Feb. 1956, Dixon Coll 20-3; 18 April 1961, Snyder Coll. 1121.
Lake Panasoffkee4 Feb. 1876, male PMZ 5099; 15 Feb. 1876, female FMNH 300639 female FMNH 300641; 17 Feb. 1876, female BMNH 1900-12-1-13, female BMNI 1900-12-1-12, male FMNH 300640, female UMMZ 62043; 18 Feb. 1876, male FMNI 300635, male FMNH 300638, female MCZ 230472, female MCZ 92620, female (mounted PMZ 566, male MCZ 92621, male PMNH 605; 25 Feb. 1876, female UMMZ 62042 female MCZ 30536; 29 Feb. 1876, male (old PMZ 5102) UM; 18 March 1876, female [n. catalog No.] Chicago Acad Sci.; 23 March 1876, female PMZ 5103, unsexed FMNI 300643, male FMNH 300642, male UMMZ 62041.
Lake Tohopekaliga, Vicinity of18 Feb. 1895, Tohopekaliga Cypress [lakes in Os ceola Co.], female USNM 151034; 10 May 1895, Little Marsh [Osceola Co.], male USNJ* 151035; 30 May 1895, Tohopekaliga Cypress, male USNM 151033.
Lake Washington, South of7 May 1926, WFVZ 16326 (Wolfe 1938), MNHOS 4797.
Lee CountyMarch 1904, male UF 2408; 20 April 1914, MCZ 8483; 8 March 1923 AMNH 6962; 10 March 1923, AMNH 8124.
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge3 April 1970, unsexed nestling USN> 563988.
Loxahatchee Slough and West Palm Beach2 March 1896, marsh west of Wes Palm Beach, male FMNH 16321; 28 March 1897, Palm Beach, male FMNH 16324; April 1897, Jupiter, male FMNH 20903; 12 April 1897, Lake Worth, MCZ 4259; 25 Apn 1897, 14.5 km north of West Palm Beach, USNM 29141, 14.5 km NW of Palm Beach USNM 29751; 9 June 1897, 6.4 km west of Palm Beach, USNM 29142, near West Pain Beach, WFVZ 9987; 25 June 1897, 14.5 km from West Palm Beach, USNM 29754 MNHUPS 13/3; 28 June 1897, 16 km from West Palm Beach, USNM 29146, MCZ 8485 14.5 km from West Palm Beach, USNM 29147, USNM 29753, WFVZ 12944; 20 Juh 1897, near West Palm Beach, USNM 29148; 17 April 1901, 8 km NW of West Pain: Beach, USNM 29477; 10 April 1911, Loxahatchee Marsh, WFVZ 16327; 1 May 1913. Palm Beach, WFVZ 94927; 16 June 1913, 2 nests with ggs in Loxahatchee Marsh (How ell 1932); 6 June 1916, Loxahatchee Marsh, male (mounted) [no catalogue No.] MNHUI: 20 April 1917, Palm Beach, male FMNH 59187; 20 March 1920, West Palm Beach, female AMNH 9672; 26 Feb. 1921, Palm Beach County, Calif. AS 3976; 27 Feb. 1921, Palm Beach County, Hoy Coll. 4; 26/28 Feb. 1921, Loxahatchee Marsh, VPI 3/3, VPI 5/
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SYKES: FLORIDA SNAIL KITE
26]
3, Snyder Coll. 1776, WFVZ 65864, WFVZ 65865; March 1921, West Palm Beach, male Calif. AS 27099; 17 March 1921, West Palm Beach, male AMNH 750126; 18 March
1921, West Palm Beach, male AMNH 750128; 19 March 1921, West Palm Beach, female AMNH 750130, male MVZ 99636, female MVZ 99637, male MVZ 99638, female MVZ 81821; 20 March 1921, West Palm Beach, female AMNH 750131; 8 April 1921, West Palm Beach, male AMNH 750122, male AMNH 750123; 12 April 1921, Palm Beach, juv. female CM 144496; 11 May 1921, West Palm Beach, male AMNH 750125; 16 Jan.
1922, Loxahatchee, male Bailey Coll. Nat. Hist. 4971 [now a mounted specimen at DMNH].
Manatee County19 Dec. 1886, male MCZ 226057; 20 Dec. 1886, female FMNH 37651.
Miami River, Head of and Vicinity29 April 1844, immature male ANSP 1942 (first record of the species in the United States) (Harris 1844); 6 May 1848, 4 specimens (Howell 1932) [USNM 11955 is probably one of these (Deignan 1961); loc. of other 3 spec, unk.]; 28 Feb. 1870, 3 specimens (Baird et al. 1874) [loc. spec, unk.]; 24 March 1870 female (in breeding condition) (Baird et al. 1874) [loc. spec, unk.], MCZ 4260 (Baird et al. 1874); 3 March 1871, female Zool. Institute, Acad. Sci., Leningrad, U.S.S.R. 132960; 25 March 1871, adult male USNM 61187 (type specimen for R. s. plumbeus); [early 1870's], male BMNH 1955-6-N-20-947; March 1883, unsexed downy nestling MCZ 208238, unsexed downy nestling BMNH 1887-5-1-1009, female MCZ 208237, male MCZ 208236, 16 March 1883, AMNH 424 (Bailey 1884); late winter 1884, male UMMZ 121467; winter 1884, unsexed SDNHM 19910; 10 Dec. 1884, female AMNH 470952; 5 March 1897, USNM 28428; 20 May 1899, male PMNH 8775; 28 April 1903, UF 52273 (Bent 1937); 2 March 1904, female FMNH 130045, male FMNH 130046; 2 Oct. 1904, female MCZ 300634; 5 Oct. 1904, female MCZ 300635, male AMNH 352055, female ROM 35684.
Micanopy4 Dec. 1919, CM 4914 (Swann 1934).
Monroe CountyApril 1900, UF 1105.
NaplesCirca 1 March 1918, specimen (Howell 1932) [loc. spec. unk.]. New River Canal15 April 1913, female UMMZ 62045.
New River, Head of25 Jan. 1897, male PMNH 6799; March 1905, Chicago Acad Sci. 28.
Okaloacoochee Slough23 April 1890, Bonnet Lake, Lee Co. [present Hendry Co.], Hoy Coll. 429.
Paradise Key, Vicinity of3 Jan. 1925, male VPI 2215; 1 Dec. 1928, female MVZ 80895.
St. Johns River, Headwaters of10 May 1923, 16 km west of Malabar, unsexed juv. USNM 287887, unsexed juv. USNM 287886, female USNM 287882, male USNM 287883; 11 May 1923, 16 km west of Malabar, male USNM 287881, male USNM 287885, female USNM 287884; 27 April 1925, west of Fellsmere, DMNH 5059, AMNH 6960; 12 May
1925, west of Fellsmere, Hoy Coll. 5/3; 13 May 1925, Fellsmere, male USNM 298783, male USNM 298782, 11 km west of Fellsmere, juv. male USNM 298784, juv. male USNM 298785, female USNM 298781, 14.5 km west of Fellsmere, DMNH 10687; 2 April 1926, west of Fellsmere, MNHOS 4796; 28 April 1926, west of Valkaria, WFVZ 8069; 29 April 1926, head of St. Johns River, Bull Coll. 12/3, SBCM 17478; 30 April
1926, west of Fellsmere, WFVZ 16325 (Wolfe 1938), Hoy Coll. 14/3; 14 Feb. 1927, west of Fellsmere, WFVZ 86341, Hoy Coll. 20/3, St. Johns Marsh, Brevard Co., DMNH 10689, north of Fellsmere Canal, MNHUPS 9/4; 15 Feb. 1927, 1.6 km north of Fellsmere Canal, MNHUPS 5/4, Hoy Coll. 22/3, Hoy Coll. 12/3, and Hoy Coll. 25/2, WFVZ 66254; 3.2 km north of canal west of Fellsmere, WFVZ 12947, west of Fellsmere, MNHOS 4795; 16 Feb. 1927, west of Fellsmere, Hoy Coll. 7/3; 10 March 1927, west of Fellsmere,
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BULLETIN FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM
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DMNH 10690, UWGB N3 1/27; 13 March 1927, Fellsmere Marsh, MNHUPS 36/3; 3 April 1927, Wolf Creek, Brevard Co., DMNH 5159; 15 April 1927, St. Johns Marsh SW of Malabar, Hoy Coll. 41/2; 20 April 1927, SW of Malabar, Brevard Co., SBCM 17479; 22 April 1927, St. Johns Marsh at Ten Pines, Hoy Coll. 38/3, south of Nickel Camp, Brevard Co., MNHOS 4794, south of Hillard Maple, WFVZ 17387; 22 May 1927, [probably headwaters of St. Johns], DMNH 10693; 10 March 1928, 32 km SW of Fellsmere, Indian River Co., CM 144497; 2 April 1929, Fellsmere, male FMNH 160215, female FMNH 156765, male FMNH 156767; 6 May 1929, 11 km SW of Fellsmere, male FMNH 160216, male FMNH 160217, female FMNH 156766; 10 April 1930, 16 km SW of Grant, male CM107475, 13 km SW of Malabar, CM 2593; 15 May 1930, Fellsmere Marsh, AMNH 15858; 11 April 1931, 19 km NW of Fellsmere, AMNH 15464, 32 km SE of Malabar, AMNH 6959; 19 April 1931, St. Johns Marsh, Brevard Co., MVZ 5156, 16 km NW of Fellsmere, AMNH 15463; 2 May 1931, 18 km NW of Fellsmere, AMNH 15462; 12 March 1933, 180 m south of State Road 60, Indian River Co., unsexed chick MCZ 252441; 18 Feb. 1934, 24 km west of Vero Beach, AMNH 15860; 19 March 1934, 24 km west of Vero Beach, AMNH 15859. Sebastian River28 March 1898, male (mounted) OSM 5443.
Wacissa RiverWayne (1895) secured about 20 specimens (14 of which are listed below): April 1894, male Charleston Mus. 912, unsexed Charleston Mus. 913, unsexed Charleston Mus. 914; 9 May 1894, [loc. spec, unk.] (Wayne 1895), [loc. spec, unk.j (Wayne fn, Charleston Mus.); 10 May 1894, female Charleston Mus. 30-147-93, male Chicago Acad Sci. 3077, 2 males [loc. spec, unk.] (Wayne fn, Charleston Mus.); 21 Ma; 1894, female and 2 unsexed juv. [loc. spec, unk.] (Wayne fn, Charleston Mus.), male MCZ 245757, male Chicago Acad Sci. 3084.
Wekiva River2 July 1876, male FMNH 37652; 5 July 1876, male USNM 72815.
1984 SYKES: FLORIDA SNAIL KITE 263
Table 1.
Curated collections with Snail Kite material from Fl orida.
Skins/ Eggs
Curatorial Institution Mounts Sets Total
Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia (ANSP) 3 1 4
Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. (AMNH) 15 19 31
British Mus. Nat. Hist. (BMNH) 13 1 11
Dan B. Bull Collection, Calif. 2 2
California Acad. Sci. (Calif. AS) 2 1 3
Carnegie Mus. Nat. Hist. (CM) 5 4 9
Charleston Mus. 4 1 5
Chicago Acad. Sci. (CAS) 3 1 4
Clemson Univ. (CU) 2 2
Delaware Mus. Nat. Hist. (DMNH) 3 12 15
James B. Dixon Collection, Calif. 1 1
Field Mus. Nat. Hist. (FMNH) 28 28
Florida State Mus. (UF) 1 2 3
Nelson Hoy Collection, Pa.['] 16 16
Milwaukee Public Mus. (MPM) 3 3
Mus. Comparative Zool., Harvard Univ. (MCZ) 24 8 32
Mus. Nat. Hist., Oregon State Univ. (MNHOS) 5 5
Mus. Nat. Hist., Univ. Iowa (MNHUI) 1 1
Mus. Nat. Hist., Univ. Puget Sound (MNHUPS) 4 4
Mus. Vertebrate Zool., Univ. Calif, Berkeley (MVZ) 7 3 10
Mus. Zool., Univ. Michigan (UMMZ) 9 10[*]
Natl. Mus. of Canada (NMC) 1 1
Ohio State Mus. (SM) 1 1
Peabody Mus. Nat. Hist., Yale Univ. (PMNH) 3 3
Princeton Mus. Nat. Hist., Princeton Univ. (PMZ) 3 3
Royal Ontario Mus. (ROM) 2 2
San Bernardino County Mus. (SBCM) 6 6
San Diego Nat. Hist. Mus. (SDNHM) 1 1
Santa Barbara Mus. Nat. Hist. (SBMNH) 3 3
Barton M. Snyder Collection, Pa. 2 2
U. S. Natl. Mus. Nat. Hist. (USNM) 23 19 12
Univ. Miami (UM) 2 2
Univ. Wisconsin, Green Bay (UWGB) 2 2
Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) 2 2 4
Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zool., Calif. (WFVZ) 30 30
Zool. Institute, Acad. Sci., Leningrad, U.S.S.R 1 1
Total 36 159 148 308
['] Acquired by WFVZ in 1980. [2] Also includes one skeleton.
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BULLETIN FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM Vol. 29, No. 6
Table 2. The 33 Florida counties in which the Snail Kite has been (?breeding 1844-1967, U968-1980). recorded
Alachua* Highlands Palm Beach* "
Brevard*! Indian River* i Pinellas
Broward* Jefferson Polk
Citrus Lake* Putnam*
Collier* Lee* St. Lucie*t
Dade*t Manatee Sarasota
DeSoto Marion Seminole
Duval Monroe* Sumter*
Flagler Okeechobee Taylor
Glades*! Orange Volusia
Hendry* Osceola Wakulla*
Tible 3.
Summary of Snail Kite material from Florida by county of origin.
Skins' Es,g>
Couutv Mounts Sets Total
AJtadhma 1 1
12 21 33
Bnwfaiid 5 go
GaJOter 9
Dadle 22 12 34
1 25 26
DeStote ^ 2
Qbdes 4 18 22
toudliiMii Ri\sr 14 21 J5
7
5 i
MtswaAw 2 2
7 -
3 3
Bsltoi Keiadfe 24 47
1 1
r. I
2
m '22
35 11 46
TfetoJl 1 139 '. 4> 38
n liwdh*tos we sJfedfetowi at MS,
PI] I&Nwawi Qa*M*>i' was
O Btewftry Ctettfflntiy w#s nwnee put tex foM data imwITfeiwii to (toaawiiiiw to which [["]] I^ifettefliit tefoeH to {to* 4ft a spwifte wmwuiy.
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