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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