The demographic contributions of connectivity versus local dynamics to population growth of an endangered bird

We used mark-resight data across the breeding range to interpret the role of immigration on population dynamics. From 1997 through 2015, multiple standardized band-resight surveys (4-6) were conducted during the peak of the snail kite breeding season (March 1 –June 30th) covering the entire known breeding range of the snail kite in Florida (Dreitz et al., 2002; Martin, Kitchens, & Hines, 2007; Reichert, Kendall, et al., 2016). During this time, 3,327 individually banded snail kites were resighted (7,232 total resights, of which 4,522 were in the northern region, 798 in Lake Okeechobee, and 1912 in the southern region). Of the total resighted individuals, 1,289 were banded before 1997, and first observed within this study as adults (>1 year of age). From 1997 to 2015, 2,888 snail kites were banded in the nest just prior to fledging (1,361 in the northern region, 252 on Lake Okeechobee, and 1,275 in the southern region) and 45 were banded as adults (28 in the northern region, 3 in Lake Okeechobee, and 14 in the southern region).