Exciting numbers of Mississippi Kites are migrating south from Texas to Veracruz and beyond (photo by William Clark). New information about the fall migration of Swallow-tailed Kites is being collected in the Florida Keys (photo by Paul Konrad).

With 21,173 Mississippi Kites migrating past the raptor count site in Veracruz, Mexico on Monday, the kite migration season is officially in full swing! There have been similar but smaller counts of Mississippi Kites migrating through Corpus Christi, Texas too, including a high total of 6,076 last Thursday, along with 7 Swallow-tailed Kites. And for a Swallow-tailed Kite update at the Florida Keys Hawkwatch, August high counts were 102 August 4th, 121 August 8th, and 214 August 20th, which provides interesting information and a testament to starting the counts a month earlier this season.

At Corpus Christi Hawkwatch, high counts of Mississippi Kites in August included 2,356 August 15th, 1,579 August 23rd, and 6,076 August 26. Corpus also had top Swallow-tailed Kite tallies of 27 August 21st, and 20 on August 29th (Sunday). Smith Point, near Houston, Texas, is also a good indicator of Mississippi Kite migration, and their count boomed to 2,471 Sunday after numbers less than 20 kites the previous 2 weeks.

Many of the Mississippi Kites that pass through Corpus Christi also pass over Veracruz, Mexico, located farther south along the Gulf Coast. There, at the Veracruz River of Raptors count site at Chichicaxtle, the Mississippi Kite numbers have been increasing almost daily with the high count skyrocketing to 21,173 Monday!

Other raptor count sites are heating up too as fall migration numbers increase, even in northern areas like Hawk Ridge in Duluth, Minnesota where Bald Eagles, Broad-winged Hawks, and Sharp-shinned Hawks were particularly active Sunday. Near Rochester, New York, biologists at Braddock Bay are also tallying big numbers of migrating Red-tailed Hawks, including 238 last Thursday and 150 Sunday. It’s great fun to review daily and monthly raptor counts at hawkwatch locations across North America throughout the fall migration season, refer to https://hawkcount.org/

You can see the total August raptor counts for the Florida Keys Hawkwatch at https://hawkcount.org/month_summary.php?rsite=583 along with the Corpus Christi totals for August at https://hawkcount.org/month_summary.php?rsite=470 and the Veracruz totals at https://hawkcount.org/month_summary.php?rsite=528