Van Buren Co., Swallow-tailed Kite, No, 24 Aug 08

[Caleb Putnam]

Birders-

Rick Brigham and I searched from daybreak to 9:40AM today (24 Aug 08) for the previously reported Swallow-tailed Kite on 78th St in SW Van Buren County.  We did not find the bird, but of course it could easily still be in the area.  As far as the location, Rick and I did find a white "monster truck" in a yard along 78th st, but it was 1/2 mile north of 44th, not 1/2 mile north of 48th as stated in the initial report.  We do not know whether this was the location of the original sighting (perhaps Jon Wuepper could comment?), but we did not find any monster trucks between 48th and 44th, so we think it is possible that 48th st is simply a typo and should have read "44th".  In any event, we'd recommend that chasers check both locations.  The habitat is rather good for this species throughout the area- lots of orchards and open fields bounded by tall canopy (deciduous and conifer), which seems similar to the habitat at the Kalamazoo location (ca. 2002/2003) which once hosted this species.

Please continue to update the list with all chase reports, including the misses.

Good Birding,
Caleb Putnam

Caleb G Putnam 

Sparta, MI

larus10 at hotmail.com
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