>>Genus Gampsonyx (Pearl Kite)

Pearl Kite

(Redirected from Gampsonyx)

Pearl Kite
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Accipitriformes
Family:	Accipitridae
Genus:	Gampsonyx Vigors, 1825
Species:	G. swainsonii
Binomial name
Gampsonyx swainsonii Vigors, 1825

The Pearl Kite (Gampsonyx swainsonii) is a very small raptor found in open savanna habitat adjacent to deciduous woodland. It is the only member of the genus Gampsonyx. The scientific name commemorates the English naturalist William Swainson.

This tiny kite breeds from Panama, Colombia and Venezuela south to Bolivia and northernArgentina, with an isolated sedentary population in Nicaragua. It is expanding its range and was proved to breed on Trinidad in 1970. First reported in Costa Rica in the mid-1990s, now fairly common along Pacific slope, to 1000m (1).Distribution and habitat

Description

The Pearl Kite is 20.3–23 cm (8–9 in) in length and weighs 80-95 g (2.8-3.3 oz). It is the smallest raptor in the Americas and one of the two smallest accipitrids in the world. The adult has a black crown, upperparts, wing and tail, a rufous edged white collar, yellow forehead and cheeks, mainly white underparts, and yellow legs. Immature birds are similar to the adults but have white and chestnut tips to the back and wing feathers, a buff collar and some buff on the white underparts. In flight this species looks mainly black above and white below. The northern form G. s. leonae differs from the nominate G. s. swainsonii in that it has rufous flanks.

Behaviour

Breeding

The nest is a deep cup of sticks built high in a tree. The clutch is 2-4 brown-marked white eggs, incubated mainly by the female for 34–35 days to hatching, with a further 5 weeks to fledging. There may be two broods in a season.

Feeding

The Pearl Kite feeds mainly on lizards, especially Anolis, but also takes small birds and insects; it usually sits on an open high perch from which it swoops on its prey. The call is a high musical pip-pip-pip-pip or kitty-kitty-kitty.

>>Genus Chelictinia (Scissor-tailed Kite)

Scissor-tailed Kite

  (Redirected from Chelictinia)

Scissor-tailed Kite
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Accipitriformes
Family:	Accipitridae
Genus:	Chelictinia Lesson, 1843
Species:	C. riocourii
Binomial name
Chelictinia riocourii (Vieillot, 1822)

The Scissor-tailed Kite or African Swallow-tailed Kite (Chelictinia riocourii) is the representative of the monotypic genus Chelictinia in the Accipitridae family. It is widespread in Africa, including: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad,Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger,Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, and is also found in Yemen.

Although primarily preying on insects and spiders, during the breeding season, it also takes lizards and rodents. It hunts on the wing, by soaring and hovering before to descend to hawk the flying prey or catch it on the ground. This is a gregarious species, sleeping at communal roost at night and hunting in loose flocks. It may also nest in loose colonies. The small stick nest is placed in thick thorny bush. Usually four eggs are laid. This kite performs regular seasonal movements related to the rains.

The species is vulnerable to degradation of the habitat and pesticides. However, populations seem to be locally common in spite of decline in some parts of the range.

Gallery

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>Elanus scriptus (Letter-winged Kite)

Letter-winged Kite

Letter-winged Kite
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Accipitriformes
Family:	Accipitridae
Genus:	Elanus
Species:	E. scriptus
Binomial name
Elanus scriptus (Gould, 1842)

The Letter-winged Kite (Elanus scriptus) is a small, rare and irruptive Australian raptor with a core range in central Australia. The adult is a small and graceful, predominantly pale grey and white, raptor with black shoulders and red eyes. It is similar in appearance to the Black-shouldered Kite except for a very distinctive black underwing pattern of a shallow ‘M’ shape, seen when in flight. Roosting during the day in well-foliaged trees and hunting at night, it is the world's only fullynocturnal raptor. Like all the elanid kites, it is a specialist predator of rodents, which it hunts by hovering in mid-air above grasslands and fields.

Taxonomy

The Letter-winged Kite was originally described by ornithologist John Gould in 1842. Its specific name is Latin scriptum meaning "written" or "marked". It is one of four species of small predominantly white-plumaged raptors in the genus Elanus. A taxonomic proposal based on DNA studies has recommended classifying these kites as a separate family (Elanidae).A 2004 molecular study of cytochrome-b DNA sequences shows them to have split off from typical hawks and eagles at an earlier date than the Osprey, which has been classically classified in its own family.

In Central Australia, southwest of Alice Springs, the Pitjantjatjara term for the Letter-winged Kite isnyanyitjira.

Description

Measuring 33 to 38 cm in length (13-15 in) with a wingspan of 85 to 95 cm (34–38 in), and weighing around 291 g (10.3 oz), the adult Letter-winged Kite is a pale grey with a white head and white underparts. It bears a characteristic long black leading edge of the inner wing, which resembles a letter 'M' or 'W' when flying. When perched, this gives them their prominent black "shoulders". It has red eyes, with black eye patches surrounding. Their nostrils are yellow and the sharp hooked beaks are black. The legs and feet are also yellow, and the feet have three toes facing forwards and one toe facing backwards. The female can be distinguished by a greyer crown.

The 'M' or 'W' on the underside of its wing, and lack of black wing tips help distinguish it from the Black-shouldered Kite. In flight, it beats its wings more slowly and deeply. Finally, the latter species is diurnal, not nocturnal.

Its call is a chicken-like chirping or a repeated loud kacking.

Distribution and habitat

The usual habitat of the Letter-winged Kite is semi-arid open, shrubby or grassy country, across the arid interior of the continent, such as theChannel Country and Gulf Country of Western Queensland and into the Northern Territory. Its range may spread south with rodent plagues.The species has been recorded in the vicinity of Broken Hill in far western New South Wales,and a dead bird recorded in a street in Inverellin the north of the state in 1965 and another spotted there a year later,as well as Lake Eyre in northern South Australia.

Food and feeding

The Letter-winged Kite is the only fully nocturnal raptor.Its principal prey is the Long-haired Rat, Rattus villosissimus. When population numbers of this rodent build up, following good rainfall, the Kites are able to breed continuously and colonially so that their numbers increase in parallel. When the rodent populations decline, the now superabundant Kites may disperse and appear in coastal areas far from their normal range in which, though they may occasionally breed, they do not persist and eventually disappear. One central Australian study over two and a half years found the kites had relocated to an area within six months of a rodent outbreak starting.

Across Central Australia, it shares its habitat with another nocturnal rodent hunter, the Barn Owl (Tyto alba), with the latter species preferring larger rodents such as the Plains rat (Pseudomys australis) whereas the kite took all species, including the Sandy Inland Mouse (Pseudomys hermannsburgensis) and Spinifex Hopping Mouse (Notomys alexis), on availability. Overall, Letter-winged Kites average one rodent consumed a day. Other predators sharing its habitat include the dingo, feral cat and fox.

Letter-winged Kites have also been recorded hunting the introduced house mouse Mus musculus in north-eastern South Australia.

Breeding

Bowenville, SE Queensland

The breeding season is usually July to November. The nest is a large untidy shallow cup of sticks usually in the foliage near the top of trees, some five metres (15 ft) or higher off the ground. It is lined with green leaves and other material such as regurgitated pellets. Multiple nests may be seen in single trees in cases of rodent plagues and hence abundance of food. The clutch consists of three to four, or rarely five or even six, dull white eggs measuring 44 x 32 mm with red-brown blotches and tapered oval in shape. The markings are often heavier around the larger end of the egg.The female incubates the eggs for 30 days, and nestlings remain in the nest for around 32 days.

>Elanus leucurus (White-tailed Kite)

White-tailed Kite

White-tailed Kite
White-tailed kite with prey.
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Accipitriformes
Family:	Accipitridae
Genus:	Elanus
Species:	E. leucurus
Binomial name
Elanus leucurus (Vieillot, 1818)
Synonyms
Elanus caeruleus leucurus

The White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus) is an elanid kite of genus Elanus found in westernNorth America and parts of South America.

Their coloration is gull-like, but their shape and flight falcon-like, with a rounded tail. Mainly white underneath, they have black wingtips and shoulders.

White-tailed kite hovering.

For some recent decades, it united with the Black-winged Kite of Europe and Africa in Elanus caeruleus, and collectively called "Black-shouldered Kite". More recently it was argued that the White-tailed Kite differed from the Old World species in size, shape, plumage, and behavior, and that these differences were sufficient to warrant specific status. This argument was accepted by the American Ornithologists' Union, so the White-tailed Kite has its original name back. Meanwhile, theOld World E. caeruleus is again called Black-winged Kite, while the name Black-shouldered Kite is now reserved for an Australian species, Elanus axillaris, which had also been lumped into E. caeruleus but now regarded as separate again.

White-tailed kite roosting.

The White-tailed Kite was rendered almost extinct inCalifornia in the 1930s and 1940s by shooting andegg-collecting, but they are now common again. Their distribution is patchy, however – they can be seen in the Central Valley and southern coastal areas, open land around Goleta including the Ellwood Mesa Open Space, and also around the San Francisco Bay, but elsewhere they are still rare or absent. They are also found in southern Texas, on the Baja California peninsula, and in eastern Mexico, and on a global scale they are not considered threatened species by the IUCN. On rare occasions the bird can be found far afield. At different times, two had been sighted in New England as of 2010.

White-tailed Kites feed principally on rodents, and they are readily seen patrolling or hovering over lowland scrub or grassland. They rarely if ever eat bird, and even in open cerrado, mixed-species feeding flocks will generally ignore them.Outside the breeding season they roost communally in groups of up to 100.

>>>Subfamily Elaninae >>Genus Elanus

Elanus

Black-winged Kites
Black-winged Kite
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Accipitriformes
Family:	Accipitridae
Genus:	Elanus Savigny, 1809
species
E. caeruleus E. axillaris E. leucurus E. scriptus

Black-winged Kites is a genus of bird of prey in the elanid kite subfamily. It consists of four species.

• Black-winged Kite, Elanus caeruleus
• Black-shouldered Kite, Elanus axillaris
• White-tailed Kite, Elanus leucurus
• Letter-winged Kite, Elanus scriptus

The first three species above were considered conspecific as subspecies of the Black-shouldered Kite.

These are white and grey raptors of open country, with black shoulder markings and a short square tail. They hunt by slowly quartering the habitat for rodents and other small mammals, birds and insects, sometimes hovering like a kestrel.

Accipitridae

Accipitridae Temporal range: Eocene - Recent PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Juvenile Ornate Hawk-eagle Spizaetus ornatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Accipitriformes
Family:	Accipitridae Vieillot, 1816
Subfamilies
Accipitrinae Aegypiinae Buteoninae Circaetinae Circinae Elaninae Milvinae Perninae

The Accipitridae, one of the two major families within the order Accipitriformes (the diurnal birds of prey), are a family of small to large birds with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-sized mammals, with a number feeding on carrion and a few feeding on fruit. The Accipitridae have a cosmopolitan distribution, being found on all the world's continents (except Antarctica) and a number of oceanic island groups. Some species are migratory.

Many well-known birds, such as hawks, eagles, kites, harriers and Old World vultures are included in this group. The Osprey is usually placed in a separate family (Pandionidae), as is the Secretary bird (Sagittariidae), and the New World vultures are also usually now regarded as a separate family or order. Karyotype data indicated that the accipitrids hitherto analysed are indeed a distinct monophyletic group, but whether this group should be considered a family of the Falconiformes or one or several order(s) on their own is a matter of taste.

Systematics

The accipitrids have been variously divided into some 5–10 subfamilies. Most share a very similarmorphology, but many of these groups contain taxa which are more aberrant. These are placed in their respective position more for lack of better evidence than anything else. It is thus not very surprising that the phylogenetic layout of the accipitrids has always been a matter of dispute.

The accipitrids are recognizable by a peculiar rearrangement of their chromosomes. Apart from this, morphology and mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data gives a confusing picture of these birds' interrelationships. What can be said is that the hawks, kites, eagles and Old World vultures as presently assigned in all likelihood do not form monophyletic groups:

According to the molecular data, the Buteoninae are most likely poly- or paraphyletic, with the true eagles, the sea eagles, and the buteonine hawks apparently representing distinct lineages. These appear to form a group with the Milvinae, Accipitrinae and Circinae but the exact relationships between the lineages are not at all robustly resolvable with the present data. The Perninae and possibly the Elaninae are older lineages, as are the Old World vultures. The latter are fairly likely also poly- or paraphyletic, with some aberrant species like the Bearded and Egyptian Vulturesstanding apart from the naked-necked "true" vultures.

Morphology

Portrait of a Bald Eagle showing its strongly hooked beak and the cere covering the base of the beak.

The Accipitridae are a diverse family with a great deal of variation in size and shape. They range in size from the tiny Pearl Kite and Little Sparrowhawk, both of which are 23 cm (9 in) in length and weigh about 85 g (3 oz), to the Cinereous Vulture, which measures up to 120 cm (47 in) and weighs up to 14 kg (31 lbs). Until the 14th century even these were surpassed by the extinct Haast's Eagle of New Zealand, which is estimated to have measured up to 140 cm (55 in) and to have weighed 15 kg (33 lbs).In terms of body mass, Accipitridae is the most diverse family of birds. Most accipitrids exhibit sexual dimorphism in size, although unusually for birds it is the females that are larger than the males. This sexual difference in size is most pronounced in active species that hunt birds, such as Accipiter hawks, in which the size difference averages 25–50%. In a majority of species, such as generalist hunters and rodent, reptile, fish and insect hunting specialists, the dimorphism is less, usually between a 5% to 25% size difference. In the carrion-eating Old World vultures and snail eating kites, the difference is almost non-existent.

The beaks of accipitrids are strong, hooked (sometimes very hooked, as in the Hook-billed Kite or Snail Kite). In some species there is a notch or 'tooth' in the upper mandible. In all accipitrids the base of the upper mandible is covered by a fleshy membrane called the cere which is usually yellow in colour. The tarsi of different species vary by diet, those of bird hunting species like sparrowhawks are long and thin, while species that hunt large mammals have much thicker, stronger ones, and snake-eagle have thick scales to protect from bites.

The plumage of the Accipitridae can be striking but rarely utilises bright colours; most birds use combinations of grey, buff and brown.Overall they tend to be paler below, which helps them seem less conspicuous when seen from below. There is seldom sexual dimorphism in plumage, when it occurs the males are brighter or the females resemble juveniles. In many species juveniles have a distinctly different plumage. Some accipitrids mimic the plumage patterns of other hawks and eagles. They may attempt to resemble a less dangerous species to fool prey, or instead resemble a more dangerous species in order to reduce mobbing by other birds. Several species of accipitrid have crests used in signalling, and even species without crests can raise the feathers of the crown when alarmed or excited. In contrast most of theOld World vultures possess bare heads without feathers; this is thought to prevent soiling on the feathers and aid in thermoregulation.

The senses of the Accipitridae are adapted to hunting (or scavenging), and in particular their vision is legendary. The sight of some hawks and eagles is up to 8 times better than that of humans. Large eyes with two fovea provide binocular vision and a "hawk eye" for movement and distance judging. In addition they have the largest pectens of any birds. The eyes are tube shaped and cannot move much in their sockets. In addition to excellent vision many species have excellent hearing, but unlike in owls sight is generally the principal sense used for hunting. Hearing may be used to locate prey hidden in vegetation, but sight is still used to catch the prey. Like most birds the Accipitridae generally have a poor sense of smell; even the Old World vultures make no use of the sense, in contrast to the New World vultures in the familyCathartidae.

Diet and feeding

The Palm-nut Vulture is an unusual frugivorous accipitrid, but will also consume fish, particularly dead fish.

Shikra Accipiter badius inHyderabad, India.

Oriental Honey-buzzard Pernis ptilorhyncus

Accipitrids are predominately predators and most species actively hunt for their prey. Prey is usually captured and killed in the powerful talons of the raptor and then carried off to be torn apart with a hooked bill for eating or feeding to nestlings. A majority of accipitrids are opportunistic predators that will take any prey that they can kill. However, most have a preference for a certain type of prey which inharriers and the numerous buteonine hawks tends towards small mammals such as rodents. Raptors who favor small mammals usually soar or hover over openings until they detect their prey and descent down onto them, although they may also watch for prey from a perch. In Accipiter hawks (the most species-rich acciptrid genus), prey is mainly comprised by other birds. Accipiter hawks usually ambushed birds in dense vegetation, a dangerous hunting method that requires great agility. Most accipitrids will supplement their diet with non-putrid carrion but, of course, none specialized with this as well as the vultures.

A few species may opportunistically feed on fruit and in one species, the Palm-nut Vulture, it forms the major part of the diet. Most accipitrids will not eat plant material. Insects are taken exclusively by around 12 species, in great numbers by 44 additional species, and opportunistically by many others.The diet of the honey-buzzards includes not only the adults and young of social insects such as wasps and bees, but the honey and combs from their nests. The Snail Kite and Hook-billed Kites are specialists in consuming snails. "Eagles" are several raptors that are not necessarily closely related but can be broadly defined by large body size and the taking of typically larger prey, including mid-sized mammals and larger birds. Most accipitrids usually hunt prey rather smaller than themselves. However, many accipitrids have been recorded as capturing and then flying with prey of equal weight or even slightly heavier than themselves in their talons, a feat that requires great physical strength. Occasionally, an eagle or other raptor that kills prey considerably heavier than itself (too heavy for the raptor to carry and fly with) and will then have to leave prey where they've killed and later return repeatedly to feed. This has the advantage of providing a surplus of food but has the disadvantage of potentially attracting scavengers or other predators which can steal the kill or even attack the feeding accipitrid. Using this method, accipitrids such as the Golden, Martial and Crowned Eagle have successfully hunted deer andduikers weighing more than 30 kg (66 lb), 7-8 times their own mass. The Haliaeetus eagles, theIchthyophaga eagles and the Osprey mainly prefer to prey on fish (comprising more than 90% of food for the latter 2 genera). These large acciptrids may supplement their diets with aquatic animals other than fish, especially the more generalized Haliaeetus eagles. Reptiles are hunted by almost all variety of acciptrids when the opportunity arises and may even be favored over other prey by some eagles andbuteonine hawks found in the tropics. Bazas and forest hawks in the genus Accipiter may take reptiles from trees whilst other species may hunt them on the ground. Snake are the primary prey of the snake-eagles (Circaetus) and serpent-eagles (Spilornis and Dryotriorchis).

Genera

• Subfamily Elaninae - elanid kites (8 species)
  • Genus Elanus
  • Genus Chelictinia
  • Genus Gampsonyx
  • Genus Elanoides
• Subfamily Perninae - honey buzzards (c.14 species)
  • Genus Aviceda
  • Genus Henicopernis
  • Genus Pernis
  • Genus Leptodon
  • Genus Chondrohierax
  • Genus Machaerhamphus (Doubtfully placed)
• Subfamily Aegypiinae - Old World vultures
  • Genus Sarcogyps
  • Genus Aegypius
  • Genus Torgos
  • Genus Trigonoceps
  • Genus Gyps
  • Genus Necrosyrtes
• Subfamily Gypaetinae
  • Genus Neophron
  • Genus Gypohierax
  • Genus Gypaetus
  • Genus Eutriorchis
• Subfamily Buteoninae - buteonine hawks, true eagles and sea-eagles (c.100 living species, probably poly- or paraphyletic)
  • Genus Geranoaetus
  • Genus Buteo (probably paraphyletic, might include Leucopternis in part and Parabuteo)
  • Genus Parabuteo
  • Genus Buteogallus (probably paraphyletic, might include Leucopternis in part)
  • Genus Busarellus
  • Genus Leucopternis (probably polyphyletic)
  • Genus Kaupifalco
  • Genus Butastur
  • Genus Harpyhaliaetus
  • Genus Geranospiza
• Subfamily Aquilinae
  • Genus Spizaetus
  • Genus Nisaetus
  • Genus Lophaetus (possibly junior synonym of Ictinaetus)
  • Genus Stephanoaetus
  • Genus Polemaetus
  • Genus "Hieraaetus"
  • Genus "Lophotriorchis"
  • Genus Aquila (paraphyletic)
  • Genus Ictinaetus
• Subfamily Circinae - harriers (some 16 living species)
  • Genus Circus
• Subfamily Polyboroidinae - harrier hawks
  • Genus Polyboroides
• Subfamily Milvinae - milvine kites (some 14 species)
  • Genus Harpagus
  • Genus Ictinia
  • Genus Rostrhamus
  • Genus Helicolestes - formerly included in Rostrhamus
  • Genus Haliastur
  • Genus Milvus
  • Genus Lophoictinia
  • Genus Hamirostra
• Subfamily Accipitrinae - goshawks, sparrowhawks, and relatives (c.55 living species)
  • Genus Accipiter
  • Genus Urotriorchis
  • Genus Erythrotriorchis
  • Genus Megatriorchis
• Subfamily Circaetinae - snake eagles (about one dozen species)
  • Genus Terathopius
  • Genus Circaetus
  • Genus Spilornis
  • Genus Pithecophaga
• Subfamily Haliaeetinae - sea eagles
  • Genus Haliaeetus
  • Genus Ichthyophaga
• Subfamily Harpiinae
  • Genus Morphnus
  • Genus Harpia
  • Genus Harpyopsis
• Subfamily Melieraxinae
  • Genus Melierax (Micronisus)

Fossil record

Neophrontops americanusfossil

Neogyps errans fossil

Like with most other birds of prey, the fossil record of this group is fairly decent^[vague] from the latterEocene onwards (c.35 mya), with modern genera being well documented since the Early Oligocene, or around 30 mya.

• Milvoides (Late Eocene of England)
• Aquilavus (Late Eocene/Early Oligocene - Early Miocene of France)
• Palaeocircus (Late Eocene/Early Oligocene of France)
• Palaeastur (Agate Fossil Beds Early Miocene of Sioux County, USA)
• Pengana (Early Miocene of Riversleigh, Australia)
• Promilio (Agate Fossil Beds Early Miocene of Sioux County, USA)
• Proictinia (Early - Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of C and SE USA)
• Neophrontops (Early/middle Miocene - Late Pleistocene) - formerly in Neophron
• Mioaegypius (Xiacaowan middle Miocene of Sihong, China)
• Apatosagittarius (Late Miocene of Nebraska, USA)
• Gansugyps (Liushu Late Miocene of China)
• Palaeoborus (Miocene)
• Qiluornis (Miocene of Shandong, China)
• Thegornis (Miocene of Argentina)
• Garganoaetus (Early Pliocene of Gargano Peninsula, Italy)
• Amplibuteo (Late Pliocene of Peru - Late Pleistocene of S North America and Cuba) - may belong to extant genus Harpyhaliaetus
• Neogyps
• Palaeohierax - includes "Aquila" gervaisii
• Wetmoregyps - formerly Morphnus daggetti

Accipitrids are known since Early Eocene times, or about from 50 mya onwards, in fact, but these early remains are too fragmentary and/or basal to properly assign a place in the phylogeny. Likewise, as remarked above, molecular methods are of limited value in determining evolutionary relationships of and within the accipitrids. What can be determined is that in all probability, the group originated on either side of the Atlantic, which during that time was only 60-80% its present width. On the other hand, as evidenced by fossils like Pengana, some 25 mya, accipitrids in all likelihood rapidly acquired a global distribution - initially probably even extending to Antarctica.

• Accipitridae gen. et sp. indet. (Huerfano Early Eocene of Huerfano County, USA)
• Accipitridae gen. et sp. indet. (Borgloon Early Oligocene of Hoogbutsel, Belgium)
• Accipitridae gen. et sp. indet. (Bathans Early/Middle Miocene of Otago, New Zealand)
• Accipitridae gen. et sp. indet. MPEF-PV-2523 (Puerto Madryn Late Miocene of Estancia La Pastosa, Argentina)
• "Aquila" danana (Snake Creek Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Loup Fork, USA) - formerly alsoGeranoaetus or Buteo
• Accipitridae gen. et sp. indet. (Early/Middle Pliocene of Kern County, USA) - Parabuteo?
• Accipitridae gen. et sp. indet. (Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene of Ibiza, Mediterranean) - Buteo?
• Accipitridae gen. et sp. indet. (Egypt)

Specimen AMNH FR 2941, a left coracoid from the Late Eocene Irdin Manha Formation of Chimney Butte (Inner Mongolia) was initially assessed as a basal mid-sized "buteonine";it is today considered to be more likely to belong in the Gruiformes genus Eogrus. The Early Oligocene genus Cruschedula was formerly thought to belong to Spheniscidae, however reexamination of the holotype in 1943 resulted in the genus being placed in Accipitridae. Further examination in 1980 resulted in placement as Aves incertae sedis.