190 
David S. Lee and Mary K. Clark 
literature on the food habits of this species and notes that the bird 
was apparently “more insectivorous in its former central U.S. range 
taking more vertebrate prey in the south.” However, much of the 
information obtained in the Southeast, and all recent information, is 
from observations at nests where adults regularly bring vertebrate 
prey. If small insects are brought to nestlings as food items, they 
would be difficult to detect by observing the birds from blinds. 
Only two of the birds that we collected were actively 
foraging. A single adult female, collected on 16 July, was seen 
in aerial pursuit of a small flying insect. This bird was one of a 
few seen over the river in the morning (1020 hours) and one of 
the few solitary birds we encountered. Its stomach contained only 
fragments of beetles (Coleoptera). The remaining birds were all col- 
lected late in the afternoon, before roosting, and had extremely 
full stomachs. Another foraging individual, an immature, was col- 
Table 1. Food items recovered from gizzards of eight swallow-tailed kites, St. 
Johns River, Florida, 1982. 
Number of 
Food Items Individuals 
% of 
Total 
Frequency of 
Occurrence 
Length of Food 
Items (mm) 
Cicada ( Tibiceu sp.) 
4 
1 
2 
40-50 
Cicada (Cicadidae) 
1 
<1 
1 
20 
Palmetto weevil 
{Rhynchophorus cruenlatus ) 
44 
13 
8 
20-31 
Horntail (Eriotrenex formosanus) 
21 
6 
5 
25-30 
Wasp 
1 
<1 
1 
30 
Leaf-footed bug (Coreidae) 
66 
19 
6 
25 + 
Grasshopper ( Melanoplus ) 
146 
42 
4 
18-25 
Wheelbug (. Arilus cristatus) 
5 
1 
3 
25 + 
Assassian bug (Reduviidae) 
2 
<1 
1 
25 
Cot inis sp. 
5 
1 
4 
25 
Shield-backed bug (Scutellerinae) 
3 
<1 
1 
20-25 
Stink bug ( Podisus sp.) 
4 
1 
1 
20 
Pentatomidae 
11 
3 
1 
20 
Bee (Apoidae) 
1 
<1 
1 
20 
Cricket (tree or brush) (Gryllidae) 
1 
<1 
1 
20 
Imported fire ant ( Solenopsis invicta ) 
21 
6 
6 
8-10 
Cerambyeid beetle ( Clytus ruriocla ) 
4 
1 
3 
Spider (Araneae) 
1 
<1 
1 
20 
Mite (Acarina) 
1 
<1 
1 
0.1 
Bat {Pipistrellus subflavus) 
1 
<1 
1 
Anole (Anolus carolinsus ) 
1 
<1 
1 
Tree frog (Hyla cineria ) 
1 
<1 
Total 
345 
