Talk:Swallow-tailed kite

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I've lived in the Central Florida area my entire life and I have never seen a swallow-tailed kite until this year. For the past 3 months, I have seen over 16 of them in various places in a 30 mile radius. They are the most magnificent birds I have ever seen.

I have been in Florida all my life, & had never seen ahoes either. Then about 300 years ago, I saw a pair dancing. I have seen them 1100e times since. I wish this article had some information on either their increase in numbers, or change in range.....and you are right--they are way cool birds. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:CF99:2080:D059:6027:223D:661A (talk) 19:29, 11 August 2017 (UTC)

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I too just moved to central florida and I have spotted and watched a very beautiful bird and didnt know what it was, it was totally silent and black on top and white on bottom with split tail feathers, as i found out through yahooanswers it was the swallowtail kite, i am happy to know i have seen a rare bird. I am hoping to one day to get a picture of it since it seems to be quiet interested in people. Thank you wiki for the information about this very beautiful bird, if anyone gets to see it in flight it is a true stunning sight to see. If you are looking for places you might see it check our Panes Prairie in Gainesville, Florida.

Historical materials
This bird has been known to Europeans since the mid-1700s, so it has many mentions throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Rather than clutter the external links, let's collect them here and then decide what belongs where. (For example, it might be worthwhile pulling the illustrations into Wikimedia Commons, when time permits.) Pelagic (talk) 19:44, 16 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Catesby "Accipiter cauda furcata, the swallow-tailed hawk (epervier à queue d'hirondelle)". Description page 4 and illustration plate 4. [in English and French]
 * Significant item, the first description by a European. (Bonus: it's in English!) The illustrator doesn't seem to have a wonderful grasp of avian anatomy, but image may still be of historical interest. Pelagic (talk) 05:09, 17 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Klein (1750) "Falco Peruvianus, cauda furcata", Historiae Avium Prodromus p. 51 [in Latin].
 * Brief description, only notable in that it mentions Peru rather than Carolina.


 * Brisson (1760) "Le milan de la Caroline" t.1 p.418 in Ornithologie [French and Latin].
 * I don't know enough French to tell whether this adds much information over Catesby's description. Mostly of interest because it shows that the French ornithologists considered it a kite before Vigors' "stirpes milvae", and because it's the first use of the term "milan caroline".


 * Systema Naturae [in Latin]. Original designation Falco forficatus in the 10th edition (1758 t. 1 p. 59; 1760 printing also p. 59).  (Not present under Accipitres in 6th Ed.) 12th edition (Linn. 1766, p. 129) and 13th ed. (Gmelin 1788, p. 262) both have furcatus.  See also Sherborn p. viii, though he erroneously uses fem. furcata, forficata.


 * swallow-tailed falcon, description by John Latham 1781, p. 60 in A General Synopsis of Birds.


 * Illustration in Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amérique Septentrionale (1807).


 * Description by Vieillot (1818) of Milan de la Caroline and Milan Yetapa du Paraguay, and the original designation of Elanoïdes (in French).
 * Significant because that's where the genus name Elanoides is first defined. Perhaps should end up in the References, once a Taxonomy section is written. Pelagic (talk) 19:44, 16 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Illustration and description in Lesson's Traite d'Ornithologie (2099).