Jeff Wendorff's bird photography portfolio of kites.
Kite Wiki Kite, any of numerous birds of prey belonging to one of three subfamilies (Milvinae, Elaninae, Perninae) of the family Accipitridae. Typically, a
kite is lightly built, with a small head, partly bare face, short beak, and long narrow wings and tail.
Kites occur worldwide in warm regions. Some
kites live on insects; others are primarily scavengers but also eat rodents and reptiles, and a few are strictly snail eaters.
Kites are buoyant in flight, slowly flapping and gliding with wings angled back. Several species are as graceful as terns.
The
Snail Kites, found only in the New World, also belong to the subfamily Milvinae. They have sickle-shaped beaks adapted to feeding on snails, their only food. The best known is the
Snail Kite or
Everglade Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis), now rare in Florida and Cuba but occurring in numbers in eastern Mexico, Central America, and most of eastern South America. It is a blackish or slate-coloured bird, about 50 cm long, with red eyes and white tail-base.
Collective Noun
There are several collective nouns for a group of
kites including skyful, string, quiver, bridle or a wake. I think that a group of
Snail Kites should be a shell! See what I did there?
If you love bird photography, then I have a photography workshop that you are going to love. In fact, if you browse over to Wildlife Workshops, you'll find several bird oriented workshops and tours!
