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Migratrice
  • Scientific Name: Elanoides forficatus
  • Spanish Name: Elanio tijereta
  • Famille : Accipitridae
  • Known Nicknames: American Swallow-tailed Kite, Fork-tailed Kite, Snake Hawk
  • Average Length: 50–68 cm / 20–27 in
  • Average Weight: 310–600 g / 11–21 oz
  • Wingspan: 112–135 cm / 44–53 in
  • Key Feature: Deeply forked tail and striking black-and-white plumage
  • Primary Diet: Carnivore (primarily insects, small reptiles, and amphibians)
  • Range: Southeastern United States to northern Argentina
  • Habitat: Forested lowlands, swamps, and river edges near open areas
  • Social Structure: Gregarious (often seen in small groups or flocks)
  • Nesting/Breeding: Tree canopy (large stick nest in tall trees)
  • Statut de conservation : Préoccupation mineure (LC)
  • Évolution démographique : Stable

The Swallow-tailed Kite (*Elanoides forficatus*) is one of the most elegant raptors in the Americas, instantly recognizable by its striking black-and-white plumage and its deeply forked, scissor-like tail, which can span nearly half its body length. This bird is a master of the air, spending most of its life on the wing with a buoyant, graceful flight style that involves constant, agile twists and turns to snatch prey like insects, lizards, and small snakes from the treetops or the surface of water. Unique among kites, it has a specialized, oversized gape that allows it to swallow large prey mid-flight, and it is famous for its aerial acrobatics, often seen in small flocks gliding effortlessly over tropical and subtropical forests. Despite its swallow-like silhouette, it is a true hawk, yet its gentle nature and dependence on pristine wetlands and forest edges make it a sensitive indicator of ecosystem health.

Faits amusants

Despite their graceful, falcon-like appearance, Swallow-tailed Kites are aerial acrobats that drink on the wing by skimming the water’s surface with their lower beak, never touching down. They are also masterful kleptoparasites, often harassing Ospreys and other raptors until they drop their fish, which the kite snatches mid-air. One quirky adaptation is their highly flexible wrist joints, allowing them to rotate their wings almost 180 degrees to snatch prey from tree crevices and even pluck live lizards and snakes directly from branches while flying backward.

Habitats et répartition

The Swallow-tailed Kite inhabits a variety of warm, open environments, primarily lowland forests, swamps, marshes, and riverine woodlands, where it can forage aerially for insects, small reptiles, and amphibians. It strongly favors areas with tall trees for nesting, such as cypress swamps and pine flatwoods, often near water bodies that support its prey. Its geographical range is restricted to the Americas, breeding from the southeastern United States (coastal South Carolina through Florida and west to Texas) south through Central America and much of South America, including the Amazon Basin and the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Northern populations are highly migratory, wintering in South America from Colombia to northern Argentina, while resident populations exist in the tropics.

Comportements & Reproduction

The Swallow-tailed Kite is highly social, often foraging and roosting in small flocks, and pairs maintain strong monogamous bonds that likely last for multiple seasons. Courtship involves dramatic aerial displays where the male chases the female, performing steep dives and swoops, sometimes passing nesting material in mid-air. Nesting is typically solitary or in loose colonies, with both sexes collaborating to build a compact platform of sticks and moss high in a tree canopy. The female lays 2 to 4 eggs, and both parents share incubation duties for about 28 days. A unique reproductive strategy is their reliance on "helper" birds—often offspring from previous broods—that assist in feeding the chicks and defending the nest, increasing fledgling survival rates. After fledging at around 5 to 6 weeks, young remain dependent on parents for several more weeks while learning to hunt on the wing.

Alimentation

The Swallow-tailed Kite is an almost exclusively insectivorous raptor, with its diet dominated by large, flying insects such as dragonflies, cicadas, wasps, beetles, and grasshoppers, which it catches in mid-air with remarkable agility. It is also known to snatch small tree frogs, lizards, snakes, and occasionally nestling birds from treetops, but these vertebrates make up a very small portion of its intake. A particularly interesting aspect of its feeding behavior is that it often drinks by skimming low over the water’s surface, dipping its bill to scoop up droplets while in flight, and it will sometimes follow wildfires or agricultural machinery to feast on insects flushed out by the disturbance. Unlike many raptors, it rarely eats carrion and obtains nearly all its moisture from its prey, allowing it to thrive in humid, open woodlands and savannas.

Couleurs

The Swallow-tailed Kite has a striking, high-contrast pattern: the head, neck, and entire underside are pure white, while the back, wings, and long, deeply forked tail are glossy black. From below, the white body and black wing edges and tail tips create a sharp silhouette. Its black eye stands out against the white face, with no camouflage adaptations, as its bold coloration likely serves for aerial signaling and mate recognition rather than concealment.