Black-winged Kite
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{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Black-winged Kite | image = Black-winged Kite NAUMANN.jpg | image_width = 240px | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Aves | ordo = Falconiformes | familia = Accipitridae | genus = Elanus | species = E. caeruleus | binomial = Elanus caeruleus | binomial_authority = Desfontaines, 1789 }}
The Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus) is a small bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards and harriers.
It is a species primarily of open land and semi-deserts in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical Asia, but it has a foothold in Europe in Spain. It nests in trees.
It takes live prey such as small mammals, birds and insects. The slow hunting flight is like a harrier, but it will hover like a Kestrel.
This bird is unmistakable. It has a white head with a black "mask", and white underparts except for black tips to its narrow falcon-like wings. Upperparts are blue-grey except for black shoulder patches.
The tail is short and square, quite unlike the more familiar Milvus kites.
This species was formerly referred to as the Black-shouldered Kite, but this name is now used for the Australian species, Elanus axillaris, at one time (along with the American White-tailed Kite E. leucurus) treated as a subspecies of E. caeruleus.
See also
fr:Élanion blanc ja:カタグロトビ nl:Grijze wouw pl:Kaniuk pt:Peneireiro-cinzento tr:Ak çaylak