The unexpected comeback of the endangered Everglade snail kite and what it means for other species facing extinction today
When a bird of prey known as the Everglade snail kite became hard to find in the wetlands of South Florida where it was once abundant, scientist Hilary Flower sought answers, tracking the kite far from its ancestral home to tell a surprising story of survival and hope. The Kite and the Snail reveals how one species made a comeback from the brink of extinction through resilience and change—and what this means for the future of conservation.
From remote sawgrass marshes to abandoned mining pits, from flooded cattle pastures to water-treatment impoundments, Flower meets field biologists, tribal elders, environmental advocates, and other key players who help her piece together the kite’s past and present. The Everglade snail kite has traditionally fed on only the native Florida apple snail, which declined in population as wetland habitats decreased during the mid- to late twentieth century. But the kite shocked scientists by adapting to a new food source—an invasive, exotic snail that is now common across the Everglades and beyond—and quadrupling the kites’ population.
A rare success story in an age of increasing threats of extinction, this book traces the evolutionary and ecological factors that have allowed the kite to thrive against the odds. The Kite and the Snail asks: How can endangered species be saved when the world around them keeps shifting? Part natural history, part investigative journey, and part personal meditation, this story shows that flexibility, surprise, and human-altered habitats may play unexpected roles in saving species at risk, pointing to new approaches to conservation in the age of the Anthropocene.
Table of Contents:
List of Figures
1. Vanishing Point
2. Searching for Kites in the Wrong Direction
3. The Extreme Specialist Raptor
4. Thinking Like a Kite
5. Back to the Beginning
6. The Case of the Disappearing Kite
7. Emergency Wetlands
8. Miracle Roost
9. The Secret of Grassy Waters
10. Periphyton Wonderland with Nobody Home
11. The Snail in My Kitchen
12. How to Make a Snail Boom
13. How to Bust a Boom
14. The Big Bang
15. Falling Snails
16. The Dangers of Lake Toho
17. Nuke It
18. The Hydrilla War
19. The Cattail Stumps and the Baby Kite
20. Are Snail Kites Trash Birds Now?
21. Two Hundred Snail Kites
22. Miracle Roost, Revisited
23. Giddy Up on the Snail Kite Ranch
24. The Snail Whisperer
25. Losing Home
26. New Frontiers
27. To Catch a Kite
28. The Heartbeat of a Kite
Acknowledgments
Glossary of Acronyms and Informal Nomenclature
Note on Sources and Selected Bibliography
Index
