Tuesday, March 24, 2026

White-Tailed Kite

The white-tailed kite is a very cool bird that I would love to see more of. Like Lord Voldemort, it has wonderfully sinister reddish eyes and pale whitish feathers (like Voldemort's skin) and can hover in the air like a helicopter. I saw my first one at San Elijo Lagoon in Encinitis, San Diego County, California on September 10, 2021 while we were staying in San Diego for a firm meeting. It was in poor evening light so in an attempt to lighten up the photo it is getting a purplish haze. 

The next sighting was on September 10, 2021 at a cacao farm near Churute Mangroves Ecological Reserve southeast of Guayaquil, Ecuador, shortly after we'd returned from the Galapagos Islands. 



Illustration from Birds of the World.

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World. I was surprised by the limited presence in the U.S. 

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