First time north of Florida: Snail Kite

I took this marginal photo of a male Snail Kite in Rimini, SC, USA. This is the first time a snail kite has been documented north of Florida. It's not a great picture but the bird is on private land so I had to shoot from the road and I've only got a 200mm.

The exciting thing is that he seems to enjoy eating crawdads (crayfish for those from Rio Linda) from a commerical crawfish pond. Until now, the endangered snail kite has only been known to feed on the endangered apple snail. Since this guy seems to like crawdads, there are hopes that they can use such crawfish facilities to help the troubled snail kite. This is probably the most rare bird I've ever seen or been able to photograph.

sometimes a not so great shot is better than not getting a shot at all, would love to see a more close up pic of this bird as I know nothing about them

gratz on getting a shot of a rare bird. i bet that sure made your day. thx tons for sharing and i hope u sneak back and get some more.

Fantastic opportunity of an amazingly rare bird. That must have been a thrill. I heard about this bird being north of Florida. I really hope it recovers and eats a wider range of food. Rent a bigger lens and capture some more shots!

Nice story and at least I know what one looks like if they ever come to Wisconsin to eat our invading Zebra Mussels.