Black-shouldered Kite
Black-shouldered Kite（学名：Elanus axillaris），是鹰形目鹰科黑翅鸢属的鸟类。小型猛禽，广泛分布于澳大利亚的开放地带。其特征为灰白相间的羽毛，显著的黑肩斑，以及深红的眼睛。体长约35厘米，翼展可达80至100厘米，体重在260至300克之间。主要以小型啮齿类为食，尤其是在农业区，得益于人类活动创造的适宜栖息地和引进的小型猎物。
Black-shouldered Kite
33-38 cm; span to 90 cm. Beautiful pale grey hawk with pure white head, body and tail, black shoulders and red eyes. Cere and legs yellow. A black 'comma' mark in front of eye extends over and to rear of eye. Juvenile: deep-buff head and upperbreast; back and wings mottled buff or brown, with prominent white tips; eye brown. Becomes progressively whiter, with buff zone around breast. Singles, pairs, family parties: perches conspicuously on dead and living trees, fence-posts; hovers near roadsides. Flight direct, with quick, shallow wingbeats broken by sailing glides on upswept 'gull' wings; underwing white except for bold black mark near 'wrist', and blackish wingtip. Hovers frequently, often with feet dangling: parachutes onto prey, wings held up in a deep V.
- Other name
- Australian Kite
- Similar Species
- Letter-winged Kite.
- Voice
- clear 'chee', with a sob, uttered repeatedly; in aggression, a harsh 'skairr!'; around nest, 'kik kik kik', etc.
- Habitat
- grasslands with trees; farms, cereal stubbles, market gardens, roadsides, sewage farms, overgrown vacant land, suburban paddocks, coastal wastes.
- Breeding
- mostly spring, but any time when food abundant, with 2-4 successive broods.
- Nest
- smallish, compact, deep cup of sticks; usually 7-12 m up in eucalypt or exotic pine.
- Eggs
- 3-4; oval, cream-white, heavily blotched chocolate-brown.
- Range & Status
- mainland Aust.; vagrant Tas. Nomadic and irruptive in response to local abundance of introduced house mouse. Closely related forms in PNG and other continents.
