Friday, March 16, 2012

>>Genus Helicolestes (Slender-billed Kite)

Slender-billed Kite

Slender-billed Kite
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Falconiformes
(or Accipitriformes, q.v.)
Family:Accipitridae
Genus:Helicolestes
Bangs & T.E Penard, 1918
Species:H. hamatus
Binomial name
Helicolestes hamatus
(Temminck, 1821)
Synonyms
Rostrhamus hamatus


The Slender-billed Kite (Helicolestes hamatus)  is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles, hawks and Old World vultures. It is found near water in forested parts of tropical northern and central South America, and far eastern Panama. Both genders resemble the male Snail Kite, and the Slender-billed Kite has often been included in the same genus, Rostrhamus. Adults always have yellow eyes and the all-dark tail is noticeably shorter than in the Snail Kite. Immatures resemble adults, but have brownish eyes and three (incl. tip) narrow white bands in the tail. As in the Snail Kite, the unusually shaped bill is an adaption for feeding on aquatic snails, and while it sometimes takes crabs, it mainly feeds on snails of the genus Pomacea.

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