BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE (Elanus axillaris)
or Australian Black-shouldered
Kite is a small raptor found in open habitat
throughout Australia and resembles similar species found in Africa, Eurasia and
North America, which have in the past also been named as Black-shouldered
Kites. Measuring 35–38 cm (13.8–15 in) in length with a wingspan of
80–95 cm (31.5–37.4 in), the adult Black-shouldered Kite is a small
and graceful, predominantly pale grey and white, raptor with black shoulders
and red eyes. Their primary call is a clear whistle, uttered in flight and
while hovering.
Though reported across Australia, they are most common in the
south-east and south-west corners of the mainland. Their preferred habitat is
open grasslands with scattered trees and they are often seen hunting along
roadsides. Like all the elanid kites, it is a specialist predator of rodents, which it hunts
singly or in pairs by hovering in mid-air above open land.
Black-shouldered Kites are around 35 to
38 cm in length (13.8 to 15 in) and have a wingspan of between 80 and
95 cm (31.5 to 37.4 in) and an average weight of 291 grams
(10.26 oz).
Black-shouldered Kites live almost exclusively on
mice, and have become a specialist predator of house mice, often following
outbreaks of mouse plagues in rural areas. They take other
suitably sized creatures when available, including grasshoppers, rats, smallreptiles, birds, and even (very rarely) rabbits,
but mice and
other mouse-sized mammalsaccount for over 90% of their diet. [INFO:WIKIPEDIA]
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