Gray-headed kite
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (October 2015) |
| Gray-headed Kite | |
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| Adult at Restinga de Bertioga State Park in São Paulo state, Brazil | |
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| Species: | L. cayanensis
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| Binomial name | |
| Leptodon cayanensis (Latham, 1790)
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The gray-headed kite (Leptodon cayanensis) is a raptor found in open woodland and swamp forests. It shares the genus Leptodon with the extremely rare white-collared kite. It breeds from eastern Mexico and Trinidad south to Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and northern Argentina.
Description
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The gray-headed kite is 46–53 cm in length and weighs 410-605 g. The adult has a grey head, black upperparts, white underparts, and a black tail with two or three white bars. The bill is blue and the legs grey. The flight is a deliberate flap-flap-glide.
Immature birds have two colour morphs; the light phase is similar to the adult, but has a white head and neck, with a black crown and eyestripe, black bill and yellow legs. The dark phase has a blackish head, neck and upperparts, and dark-streaked buff underparts.
Ecology
The gray-headed kite feeds mainly on reptiles, but also takes frogs and large insects. It usually sits on an open high perch from which it swoops on its prey. The call is a mewling keow. The nest is made of sticks lined with grass and is built high in a tree. The clutch is one or two white eggs, purplish at one end and spotted brown.
References
Further reading
- Ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
- Hilty, Steven L (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
- A guide to the birds of Costa Rica by Stiles and Skutch ISBN 0-8014-9600-4