The swallow-tailed kite is a distinctive raptor with contrasting black and white plumage, long pointed wings, and a deeply forked tail. It resides in the southeastern United States during its breeding season, from South Carolina to Florida and west to eastern Texas. These birds prefer habitats like bottomland, riparian, and swamp forests, which offer tall nesting trees and open hunting areas.
Main Dietary Components
The diet of a swallow-tailed kite primarily consists of insects and small arboreal vertebrates. Adult kites largely consume large flying insects, including dragonflies, cicadas, wasps, beetles, grasshoppers, and crickets. They also eat termites, ants, and caterpillars, which they capture during flight.
Beyond insects, swallow-tailed kites prey on small vertebrates like tree frogs, lizards, and snakes. In South Florida, they have been observed eating green iguana hatchlings. They also feed on nestling birds and their eggs, especially when raising their young.
Swallow-tailed kites consume stinging insects like wasps, sometimes bringing entire wasp nests to their own nests to eat the larvae and incorporate the material. Their stomachs are notably thicker and spongier than those of many other raptors, which aids in digesting such prey. Their diet also occasionally includes bats, small fish, and fruit, particularly in their tropical wintering grounds.
Hunting and Foraging Behavior
Swallow-tailed kites’ agile, acrobatic flight is central to their hunting strategy. They spend most of their day airborne, soaring and gliding with minimal wingbeats, using their deeply forked tail as a rudder for sharp turns and precise maneuvers. This aerial mastery allows them to snatch flying insects from the air.
They also pluck small vertebrates from tree branches and leaves without landing. They can eat while flying, carrying captured prey in their feet and consuming it mid-air. They can even roll and dive backward to catch insects they might have initially missed. In addition to hunting, these kites drink by skimming the surface of water bodies and dipping their beaks.
Diet Variations and Adaptations
The diet of swallow-tailed kites varies by season and geographic location. While adults primarily consume large insects, they feed their young a greater proportion of small vertebrates like frogs, lizards, and snakes. In their tropical wintering grounds, fruit consumption becomes a more regular, though still minor, part of their diet.
The physical attributes of the swallow-tailed kite are well-suited to its specialized diet and hunting style. Their streamlined body, long pointed wings, and deeply forked tail enable effortless soaring and highly maneuverable flight, allowing them to pursue agile prey. They possess a small head with a short, hooked beak and strong talons for capturing and consuming their diverse prey. Their lightweight body, ranging from 310 to 600 grams, enhances aerial efficiency.