{"id":554,"date":"2009-03-28T21:13:54","date_gmt":"2009-03-29T01:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/richard.rathe.org\/?p=554"},"modified":"2009-03-30T23:37:59","modified_gmt":"2009-03-31T03:37:59","slug":"the-ultimate-bird-swallow-tailed-kite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/2009\/the-ultimate-bird-swallow-tailed-kite","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Bird"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-555\" title=\"swallow_tailed_kite\" src=\"http:\/\/richard.rathe.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/swallow_tailed_kite.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"134\" height=\"150\" \/>Every Spring I look forward to the return of  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/AllAboutBirds\/BirdGuide\/Swallow-tailed_Kite.html\" target=\"_blank\">Swallow-Tailed Kites<\/a> (Elanoides forficatus) from their <a href=\"http:\/\/content.ornith.cornell.edu\/UEWebApp\/images\/elan_forf_AllAm_map.gif\" target=\"_blank\">South American sojourn<\/a>. I&#8217;ve seen two so far this year. In the US this bird is almost unique to Florida, where it comes to breed. I can still remember the first time I saw one driving along a rural highway\u2014I looked up and &#8220;Wow!&#8221; I was hooked. After giving it some thought I&#8217;ve concluded that in addition to the striking forked tail and elegance in the air, the white on black plumage creates a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bobolinkbooks.com\/Camoupedia\/DazzleCamouflage.html\" target=\"_blank\">dazzle camouflage<\/a> effect. The smaller white bird on a dark background looks dove-like or even angelic in the morning light. Always a remarkable sight!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every Spring I look forward to the return of Swallow-Tailed Kites (Elanoides forficatus) from their South American sojourn. I&#8217;ve seen two so far this year. In the US this bird is almost unique to Florida, where it comes to breed. I can still remember the first time I saw one driving along a rural highway\u2014I &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/2009\/the-ultimate-bird-swallow-tailed-kite\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Ultimate Bird&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":560,"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions\/560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmangrove.org\/rathe.org\/richard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}