As promised from my last post, here is the story about our recent trips to the Fort Myers area to look for snail kites. I’ve written about snail kites in the past because they are such fascinating birds with an equally fascinating story. The Everglades snail kite subspecies is unique to central and south Florida. They are beautiful birds, a little smaller than an osprey. Adult males are striking with gray bodies, a white band above their tails, bright orange feet, and red eyes.
We ended up making two trips a few days apart because we learned that damage caused by Hurricane Ian 20 months ago changed the habitat and moved the kites to a different area. We also learned from a local resident photographer about where to likely find the kites. So, the second trip turned out to be amazing. We saw close to 20 snail kites! Typically, if we saw kites, it would be anywhere from 1 to 5. To see 6 to 10 would be considered a great day. They were feeding in a network of canals that were full of snails.
Snail kites are raptors that feed entirely on apple snails. At one time Florida only had one native species of apple snail and it was found mainly in the Everglades. But over the years, the Everglades watershed has changed dramatically with surrounding development and man-made attempts to better control water flow. With the habitats disappearing, apple snails, along with the snail kites disappeared and they were put on the endangered species list in 1967. According to one source, the number of kites fell to less than 100 in 1972. But they’ve made a remarkable comeback, ironically due to an invasive species of apple snail.
Usually most invasive species of plant or animal have an alarming effect on the environment. A great example is the explosion of the python population in the Everglades which has had devastating impacts on the native wildlife. It’s thought that the foreign snails were introduced to the US from South America and were used mainly in aquariums. When they outgrew aquariums, people released them into the wild where they thrived. But the invasive snails have benefited both snail kites and limpkins since the snails are their only diet.
Of course, there’s always a “but”. In the case of snail kites, the invasive snails were as much as 3 times larger than the native Florida variety. The problem for kites was the larger snails were much more difficult to lift out of the water and their beaks couldn’t reach all the way into the shell to dislodge the meat. So, kites have evolved. A recent study showed that snail kites have grown by an average of about 12% over the past several years so they have the strength to carry the larger snails. Their beaks have also grown about 12% longer to enable them to reach all the way into the snail shells. It’s a very interesting story about how something bad has helped something else. I don’t know the eventual impact foreign snails will have on the environment. But for now, there are two species of birds that are happy!
I’ve included several links to stories about snail kites and the apple snails that have changed their lives.
- https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snail_Kite/overview#
- https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/snailkite.htm
- https://myfwc.com/media/1659/kitesbrochure.pdf
- https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/birds/raptors-and-vultures/everglade-snail-kite/
- https://www.npr.org/2023/03/14/1157862843/endangered-snail-kite-invasive-apple-snail-florida
- https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2023/03/06/invasive-apple-snails-in-your-backyard-waterways-uf-ifas-study-dives-into-their-threat-to-floridas-wetlands/
A few more pictures from the trips are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, please visit the gallery listed.
