White-Tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus) lives in open grasslands across Western North America. It feeds on small mammals rodents. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Fascinating facts about the White-Tailed Kite
- In the 1930s and 1940s intensive shooting and egg-collecting drove the white-tailed kite to the brink of disappearance in California. Conservation and legal protection have allowed the species to recover and it is now regarded as common in parts of its former range. Nevertheless, its presence is uneven, with birds regularly seen in the Central Valley, southern coastal sites and the San Francisco Bay area while remaining scarce or absent elsewhere in the state.
- Outside the breeding season during the winter, white-tailed kites roost communally in groups of up to one hundred individuals.
- Nesting activity begins in mid-February, when both sexes build a platform of sticks and twigs high in a tree. At that point the female ceases all hunting and remains on the nest to incubate the clutch, while the male alone supplies all food for her and the developing chicks. The incubation lasts roughly 26 to 32 days and the clutch typically contains four to five cream-coloured eggs marked with brown splotches.
- While hovering about 80 feet in the air, the kite keeps its head tipped down to scan the grass for movement. This high perch lets it spot tiny mammals scurrying below before it launches a rapid dive. It seizes the prey with its talons and either returns to a perch or flies back up to eat, often transferring the catch to its beak while still aloft. The technique lets the bird exploit open-country habitats where prey is hidden in short vegetation.
- The white-tailed kite is famed for "kiting", a steady hover achieved by facing directly into the wind and fluttering its wings. In this motionless stance it can remain aloft for minutes, using the wind to support its weight while it surveys the ground below. By keeping its head lowered it watches for the slightest twitch of a rodent or lizard, then plunges in a swift dive to capture the animal with its talons.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
At a glance
RangeWestern North America
HabitatOpen grasslands
DietSmall mammals rodents
About the White-Tailed Kite
As the sun casts its golden light upon the open grasslands, the White-Tailed Kite takes to the sky, its slender form undulating with each effortless beat of its wings, a master of the wind and a hunter of unparalleled precision. With eyes that scan the terrain below with piercing intensity, this raptor navigates the landscape with a fluid elegance, its tail streaming behind it like a banner of white silk. In its aerial ballet, the White-Tailed Kite embodies the very essence of freedom, a testament to the beauty and agility that can be found in the wild, unencumbered expanses of our natural world.
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