Date: 4/26/25 1:22 pm From: Sammy Cowell via groups.io <samueldavidcowell...> Subject: [CALBIRDS] Swallow-tailed Kite in Ventura County
Hello all,
Yesterday evening, someone reported a Swallow-tailed Kite at 7 p.m. just south of Ojai in Ventura County. They had an iPhone photo attached to their eBird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S229417508
This morning, the bird was found again perched in a tree in the same area (34.364351, -119.3095533). It was raining on and off throughout the morning, and thermals were probably very limited. A good group of us watched it for about an hour or so. It took off a couple of times in between breaks in the rain; it looked like it may have been foraging. It would then land more or less in the same area.
A couple of us went over to another vantage point in a local neighborhood. We talked to the neighbors who had said that they had seen it flying around yesterday, perching in the trees around the neighborhood. Around 10:15 a.m. it took off, circled high, and started making its way south along the Ventura River towards the coast. It was sighted a couple of times after that. Last report as of now was at the intersection of Victoria Avenue and Gonzalez (34.21947924, -119.2211541), just south of the 101 freeway in Ventura, heading south.
This is essentially the same time a Swallow-tailed Kite was seen in the area last year. It was seen further to the east/inland in the Santa Rosa Valley area between Thousand Oaks and Camarillo on April 27th during a Conejo Valley Audubon Society field trip: https://ebird.org/checklist/S170567081. Later, another checklist showed up from a local resident from the prior day, April 26th: https://ebird.org/checklist/S171066846
Obviously, this is all circumstantial, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to think that this could be the same vagrant bird from last year. Anyways, just wanted to get the word out for those in surrounding counties and also farther up the coast. Perhaps the Farallons will get their second record in the coming weeks.
