Snail Kite Population Showing Strain in Dry Years

The Snail Kite is among the most iconic birds of the Florida peninsula. With its putting darkish plumage, deeply hooked invoice, and gradual, buoyant flight simply above the water’s floor, the kite is uniquely tailored for one goal: feeding on apple snails. The apple snail doesn’t stay north of Florida, and thus, neither does the Snail Kite. This extremely specialised eating regimen, restricted vary, and human adjustments to historic water stream within the Everglades mixed to land the kite on the federal endangered species record in 1967.

For the reason that River of Grass was drained and ditched within the mid-20^th century, kite populations have been on a curler coaster journey.

In only a decade between 1999 and 2009, their numbers dropped from about 3,000 birds to solely 700. Then, one thing sudden occurred: non-native, channeled apple snails appeared in Florida waters.

Channeled snails are a lot bigger, longer lived, extra prolific, and extra resilient than our native snails. The snails unfold so quickly and extensively that the kites realized to eat them; their inhabitants rebounded again to three,000 birds by 2019. 

Many hoped that the inhabitants rebound meant kites can be safe attributable to this new meals supply. Sadly, latest monitoring knowledge paints a extra difficult image. In 2025, Florida skilled an abnormally dry spring and the College of Florida reported solely 30 profitable Snail Kite nests in the whole state. No profitable nests got here from the 2 largest historic kite nesting areas: the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee. The earlier yr additionally wrought a dry spring and poor nesting success. Consequently, the inhabitants estimate for 2025 has dropped to about 2,000 kites whole.  The 2026 inhabitants estimate is predicted to be even decrease.

What Is Audubon Doing to Assist Snail Kites?

Audubon has led Snail Kite conservation for greater than 90 years. The primary wardens patrolled to guard kites from hunters and educate folks about their significance. Roderick Chandler, our third Okeechobee warden, labored with researchers from universities and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, first by guiding them to the place kites had been, then serving to with behavioral and nesting research. They even realized to place baskets below nests that had been at risk of collapsing.

Just lately, Audubon labored with conservation companions to kind and co-chair the multi-agency, multi-disciplinary Snail Kite Coordinating Committee. The committee meets within the spring and fall; to date we’ve got realized that although unique snails might be prolific, their availability shrinks throughout drought years. Moreover, the exotics are a boom-and-bust type of species and through bust years, kites can’t depend on them. As for the native snail populations – their numbers are nonetheless down, and we don’t know why. They haven’t recovered sufficient within the Everglades or most main lakes to the extent they may help Snail Kites by themselves. 

Into the Future

Transferring ahead, Audubon will proceed our vigilance on points to keep away from water ranges within the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee which are too deep or shallow or altering too rapidly. We help holding aquatic plant managers and leisure boaters at secure distances from energetic nests. Importantly, we are going to proceed to help and advocate for elementary analysis on native and unique snails, as that is important to assist managers perceive the right way to work collectively for a resilient Snail Kite future.

Keep knowledgeable – learn our latest State of the Everglades report and sign up for our email list to be taught Snail Kite updates.