Hi folks, I just woke up. Exhausting day yesterday. They said the Pelican isn't banded or marked in any way but they are asking around to see if it escaped from...something? It's only about two hours south of me. It does make one wonder how it ended up on our side of Florida?
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary posted a good Folklore Friday today about Swallowtail Kites (and Kites in general). Enjoy!
Folklore Friday: Beautiful Swallow-Tailed Kites, make their way back to Florida around Valentine's Day each year from South America. In Egyptian mythology, Isis, was Goddess of the moon, love, magic, fertility and healing, After the death of her husband, Osiris, she took on the role as Goddess of the dead and of funeral rites. She was said to take the form of a Kite or Kestrel, which she considered a sacred bird. Kites were connected with funeral customs. Tales are told of a woman called “The Kite” who was the Pharaoh’s chief female funeral attendant. She was supposed to remove poisons from the deceased, magically purifying him. She was also believed to have powers of resurrection. In Egyptian art, when Isis and sister Nephthys are not portrayed as women, they are shown in full bird-form or sometimes as woman-headed kites. Some art depicts them sitting or hovering by the bier of Osiris, prior to his burial. As birds, Isis and Nephthys mourn Osiris, making shrill bird cries to express sorrow. Isis and Nephthys were shown with wings attached to their arms.
When traveling in Florida you may have noticed that the Swallow-Tailed Kite is pictured on the Great Florida Birding Trail signs. Florida has more Kites than the rest of the nation, so it was a perfect fit. While we’re talking about kites....The earliest written account of kite flying was about 200 B.C. when the Chinese General Han Hsin of the Han Dynasty flew a kite over the walls of a city he was attacking to measure how far his army would have to tunnel to reach past the defenses. Knowing this distance his troops reached the inside of the city, surprised their enemy, and were victorious. If you decide to “go fly a kite,” you may be interested to know that April is National Kite Month. #CorkscrewSwamp #FolkloreFriday
