Suwannee 22's Journey UPDATE #2

On October 7, the Avian Research and Conservation Institute posted this on Facebook:
As the southeast reels between hurricanes, we hope to bring a little distraction with news of migrating Swallow-tailed Kites, many of which have safely reached their winter destinations in South America.

More detail is presented on ARCI blog page.

Below is Update #1, which we posted on September 9:

Suwannee 22's Journey - Update #1

As reported below, our Swallow-tailed Kite Suwannee 22 survived her harrowing encounter with Hurricane Debby and returned to our area to recover from the ordeal. Apparently, she did a fine job of building up her strength again. Our friends at Avian Research and Conservation Institute (ARCI) have tracked her new flight across the Gulf of Mexico. She is now resting up to complete her migration to Brazil.

Friends is proud to be part of this research. Thanks to all Friends members who have contributed to helping sponsor Suwannee's tracker.

The ARCI blog has fascinating additional information. This photo is from their blog post entitled The Hurricane Swallow-tailed Kite: the sequel.

Below is our original post from August 8:

Suwannee 22's Incredible Hurricane Debby Adventure

Following her instincts rather than the news reports, Suwannee 22 took off on her migration to Brazil just days before Hurricane Debby developed. She bumped into the storm before reaching Cuba and turned back north, just as Debby intensified. Somehow she ended up in the eye and arrived safely in Steinhatchee. Read all about it in this blog from the Avian Research & Conservation Institute. Now our brave and exhausted bird will need to build up her strength and fuel up on lots of food all over again. Friends are cheering for her and very glad to be part of the research that documented such amazing flight.
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USA Today covered the story and used a cool animated track.