What wonderful pictures! Great to see the White-tailed Kites from all different angles. This is better than a bird identification book, here you can really learn how to identify them looking at your images! And I love the explanations you give, a great learning experience too!
this is a White-Taile Kite. It is NOT a black-shouldered Kite. We simply don't have black-shouldered kites in California. What we have is white-tailed kites, Elanus Leucurus. I don't live in Australia..this was taken in California USA.
The White-tailed Kite was drove to the brink of extinction in the 1930s and 1940s by shooting from ignorant farmers and hunters, and egg-collecting, but the population is now growing again in California. The farmers shot these birds thinking that they were a threat to their chickens while they are actualy useful as they get rid of a big quantity of rodents like small mice which carry the Lime disease.
Their distribution is sporadic, however; they can be seen in the Central Valley and southern coastal areas, and also around the San Francisco Bay. They are also found in Baja California, southern Texas and eastern Mexico.
White-tailed Kites feed principally on rodents, and they are readily seen patrolling or hovering over lowland scrub or grassland. Their coloration is gull-like, but their shape and flight falcon-like. Mainly white underneath with a small darker round patch, they have black wingtips and shoulders. Outside the breeding season they roost communally in groups of up to 100. This is a very shy bird and getting to it takes time and patience.
