Family: Accipitridae, Hawks and Eagles view all from this family

Description 15-17" (38-43 cm). W. 33" (84 cm). A small bird of prey with long hooked bill, short rounded wings, and tail boldly banded with black and white. Male slate-gray above, barred below with gray. Female brown on back with rufous collar, and with rufous barring on underparts.

Habitat Mesquite woods along rivers and streams.

Nesting 2 white eggs in a nest of twigs placed in a tree.

Range Resident in extreme southern Texas. Also in American tropics.

Voice Musical whistles; harsh chattering during courtship or when disturbed.

Discussion A tropical species that enters the United States only along the Rio Grande, the Hooked-billed Kite feeds mainly on tree snails, which it deftly extracts from their shells with its long hooked bill. This bird often has a favorite feeding perch, marked by a pile of empty snail shells on the ground below. As it flies through the dense mesquites, this kite flaps its short wings several times and then glides unsteadily.