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Art details · Episode 3
Swallow-tailed Kite
The card that started the deck. The Swallow-tailed Kite was the first animal drawn for Fins & Feathers, and it sets the tone for the rest: pen and ink over flat red, one Florida animal per card.
In spring and summer you can watch these kites wheel over Florida's wetlands and pine flatwoods, barely moving their wings.
Fun facts
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It eats and drinks on the wing, plucking insects and lizards from treetops and skimming the water's surface to drink.
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It spends the winter in South America and returns to Florida in early spring.
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That long, deeply forked tail works like a rudder, letting it turn sharply without flapping.
The episode
Watch it being drawn
Every card in the deck is drawn by hand on camera, from the first pencil line to the finished ink.