White-Tailed Kite
Elanus leucurus
This bird contrasts with the Northern
Harrier in the color of its eyes, which are "orange to reddish
brown" (Alsop, p. 121).
It contrasts with the Mississippi Kite in having a "lighter
tail, black shoulder patches" (Alsop, p. 122).
"Pale gray above and white below,
it has a white head with a small black patch around the eye.
Black epaulettes adorn
the shoulders ... it was formerly named the white-tailed kite
(Elanus leucurus). The AOU, however, now considers it part of
a single worldwide complex with the black-winged kite of Africa
and Eurasia and the black-shouldered kite of the Australian region.
All are collectively designated the black-shouldered kite"
(Tveten, 151).
The USGS website adds:
"* White head, chin, throat,
chest, belly and underwing coverts
* White underwing with primaries darkening on outer wing
* Small black wrist mark on underprimary coverts
* White tail
* Pale gray back and upperwing with flight feathers darkening
towards outer wing
Mississippi Kite has a similar shape,
but is much darker in all plumages, never having a white breast,
white tail, or the black shoulder or wrist marks of the White-tailed
Kite."
Although Tveten opts for calling this
a Black-Shouldered Kite, most other sources identify the North
American bird a White-Tailed Kite, and I have followed their
practice.
Photo taken with a Nikon D80 using
a Nikon 400mm, f/5.6, manual focus lens.
August 23, 2008.