Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Accipitriformes > Accipitridae > Elanoides > Elanoides forficatus

Elanoides forficatus (Swallow-tailed Kite; American Swallow-tailed Kite)

Synonyms: Elanoides forticatus; Falco forficatus
Language: French; Spanish

Wikipedia Abstract

The swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides forficatus) is an elanid kite which breeds from the southeastern United States to eastern Peru and northern Argentina. Most North and Central American breeders winter in South America where the species is resident year round. It was formerly named Falco forficatus.
View Wikipedia Record: Elanoides forficatus

Infraspecies

Elanoides forficatus forficatus
Elanoides forficatus yetapa

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
14
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
40
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 27.6519
EDGE Score: 3.35522
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Clutch Size [7]  1
Clutches / Year [2]  1
Fledging [2]  41 days
Global Population (2017 est.) [3]  150,000
Incubation [6]  29 days
Raptor Research Conservation Priority [8]  87
Snout to Vent Length [2]  22 inches (57 cm)
Water Biome [1]  Coastal
Wing Span [9]  4.166 feet (1.27 m)
Adult Weight [2]  1.135 lbs (515 g)
Birth Weight [4]  36.5 grams
Breeding Habitat [3]  Temperate eastern forests, Tropical evergreen forests
Wintering Geography [3]  Widespread Neotropical
Wintering Habitat [3]  Tropical evergreen forests
Diet [5]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Frugivore
Diet - Ectothermic [5]  20 %
Diet - Fruit [5]  10 %
Diet - Invertibrates [5]  70 %
Forages - Mid-High [5]  50 %
Forages - Understory [5]  50 %

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Prey / Diet

Atta sexdens (leaf cutter ant)[9]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Competing SpeciesCommon Prey Count
Myrmecophaga tridactyla (Giant Anteater)1
Thecadactylus rapicauda (Turniptail Gecko)1

Predators

Bubo virginianus (Great Horned Owl)[10]
Buteo lineatus (Red-shouldered Hawk)[10]
Buteo platypterus (Broad-winged Hawk)[10]
Strix varia (Barred Owl)[10]

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Centrorhynchus spinosus[11]
Dispharynx nasuta[11]
Neodiplostomum attenuatum[11]
Stomylotrema vicarium[11]
Tetrameres robusta <Unverified Name>[11]

Range Map

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 2Nathan 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
♦ 3Partners in Flight Avian Conservation Assessment Database, version 2017. Accessed on January 2018.
♦ 4Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 5Hamish 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
♦ 6Meyer, K.D., and M.W. Collopy. 1995. Status, distribution, and habitat requirements of the American swallow-tailed kite (Elanoides forficatus) in Florida. Fla. Game and Fresh Water Fish Comm. Nongame Wildl. Program Project Rep. 137pp + xiv. Tallahassee, Fla.
♦ 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
♦ 8Buechley 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
♦ 9del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 10Predators of the Swallow-Tailed Kite in Southern Louisiana and Mississippi, Jennifer O. Coulson, Thomas D. Coulson, Sherry A. DeFrancesch, and Thomas W. Sherry, Journal of Raptor Research 42(1):1-12. 2008
♦ 11Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
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