The Kite and the Snail: An Endangered Bird, Its Unlikely Prey, and a Story of Hope in a Changing World

By Hilary Flower

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813081491
• ISBN13: 9780813081496
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Length: 224 Pages