Without binoculars or a camera, the views can be underwhelming

A Swallow-Tailed Kite in LA County

I just returned from a 10-day trip to Guatemala (tropical birds!). I was starting to put together some posts about the places I visited and the birds I saw. But before I could finish one, a beautiful Swallow-tailed Kite showed up in LA County. The bird was first seen on Tuesday, near Long Beach, at Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park. I flew in on Tuesday on a red-eye from Guatemala City, wasn’t watching the alerts, and didn’t hear about the sighting until Tuesday evening. The bird wasn’t refound until today (Sunday). Just as I started a volunteer shift at the Natural History Museum, news went out that the bird was back. It was reported off and on all afternoon. As soon as my shift ended at 4pm, I took off for Long Beach.

Breaking the #1 rule and guiding principle of this blog, I went without binoculars (or my birding camera). Home was too far out of the way. Luckily, this was a big enough raptor that I figured I could see it with my naked eyes if it was there. Also, there would be 20 birders around to help me find it. Close photos of the bird perched in a tree went out during my drive. But before I could get there, the bird flew north and out of view. Rather than walking around a lake to where all the birders were, I set up in a spot with a pretty sweeping view to the north. A couple other birders showed up, and we scanned the sky.

About 20 minutes after I arrived, one of the birders near me got the Swallow-tailed Kite in his binoculars. It was distant, but I could see the bird lazily soaring with my naked eyes. He kindly handed over his binoculars for a better view. Another birder allowed me to check it out through a spotting scope. It was a beautiful bird, with contrasting black-and-white underwing pattern, a slaty-gray back with dark shoulders, and a ridiculously long and swallow-tailed tail. I’d seen a couple before in Costa Rica, but this was a new bird for me in the USA. It turns out to be only the second LA County record (the first was a single sighting last summer), and just the 3rd (or 4th or 5th) California record. It’s possible this same bird has been seen in Ventura and San Diego counties in the past month.

Swallow-tailed Kites are regulars in Florida and along the Gulf coast. Their range extends to the Caribbean, Central America, and south all the way to Argentina. They feed on insects caught on the wing, and lizards, snakes, frogs, and small birds. They soar buoyantly, infrequently flapping their wings. 

On my way out, I stopped at the northern end of the lake where the bird had been flying, to see if I might get a cellphone photo. To my delight, after a few minutes, the bird swooped almost directly overhead, close enough for an identifiable shot with my phone.