Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Accipitriformes > Accipitridae > Elanus > Elanus caeruleus

Elanus caeruleus (Black-winged Kite; Black-shouldered Kite)

Synonyms: Falco caeruleus (homotypic)

Wikipedia Abstract

The black-winged kite (Elanus caeruleus) is a small diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae best known for its habit of hovering over open grasslands in the manner of the much smaller kestrels. This Eurasian and African species was sometimes combined with the Australian black-shouldered kite (Elanus axillaris) and the white-tailed kite (Elanus leucurus) of North and South America which together form a superspecies. This kite is distinctive, with long-wings, white, grey and black plumage and owl like forward-facing eyes with red irises. Although mainly seen on the plains, they are sometimes seen on grassy slopes of hills in the higher elevation regions of Asia. They are not migratory, but make short-distance movements in response to weather.
View Wikipedia Record: Elanus caeruleus

Infraspecies

Elanus caeruleus caeruleus
Elanus caeruleus hypoleucus
Elanus caeruleus vociferus
Elanus caeruleus wahgiensis

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
8
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
32
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 16.3097
EDGE Score: 2.85127
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  232 grams
Birth Weight [2]  21 grams
Female Weight [5]  280 grams
Male Weight [5]  241 grams
Weight Dimorphism [5]  16.2 %
Diet [3]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates)
Diet - Ectothermic [3]  20 %
Diet - Endothermic [3]  60 %
Diet - Invertibrates [3]  20 %
Forages - Ground [3]  100 %
Clutch Size [7]  4
Clutches / Year [4]  2
Fledging [4]  33 days
Incubation [6]  26 days
Mating Display [2]  Ground and non-acrobatic aerial display
Maximum Longevity [8]  6 years
Raptor Research Conservation Priority [9]  111
Snout to Vent Length [4]  13 inches (34 cm)
Speed [10]  25.725 MPH (11.5 m/s)
Wing Span [10]  33 inches (.834 m)
Female Maturity [4]  0 years 12 months

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

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Important Bird Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Storchová, Lenka; Hořák, David (2018), Data from: Life-history characteristics of European birds, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n6k3n
♦ 2Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 5Thiollay, J. M. (1977). "Les Rapaces d'une zone de contact savane-forêt en Côte d'Ivoire : modes d'exploitation du milieu." Alauda 45: 197-218
♦ 6Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve
♦ 7Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 8de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 9Buechley ER, Santangeli A, Girardello M, et al. Global raptor research and conservation priorities: Tropical raptors fall prey to knowledge gaps. Divers Distrib. 2019;25:856–869. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12901
♦ 10Pande, S., A. Padhye, P. Deshpande, A. Ponkshe, P. Pandit, A. Pawashe, S. Pednekar, R. Pandit & P. Deshpande (2013). Avian collision threat assessment at ‘Bhambarwadi Wind Farm Plateau’ in northern Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(1): 3504–3515
♦ 11del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 12COMMUNAL ROOSTING AND DIET OF BLACK-SHOULDERED KITES (ELANUS CAERULEUS) WINTERING IN SOUTHWESTERN SPAIN, Deseada Parejo, Jesús M. Avilés, Juan J. Ferrero, Domingo Rivera and José M. Casas, J Raptor Res. 35(2):162-164 (2001)
♦ 13Otomys angoniensis, G. N. Bronner and J. A. J. Meester, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 306, pp. 1-6 (1988)
♦ 14Otomys irroratus, G. Bronner, S. Gordon, and J. Meester, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 308, pp. 1-6 (1988)
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0