Also known as the ghost of the grasslands, the White-tailed Kite is a small, elegant raptor built for hovering hunts. Unlike heavier hawks that circle slowly or falcons that dive at speed, kites hang almost motionless in midair — wings trembling, eyes locked on the ground below. Their crisp white plumage, flashing black shoulders, and fiery red eyes set them apart in any open sky.
- Length: 14–17 inches (35–43 cm)
- Wingspan: 40 inches (102 cm)
- Range: Found year-round in open country from California and Texas through Mexico, Central America, and much of South America. Northern birds may shift southward in winter.
What to Look For
The White-tailed Kite is a bird of contrasts — delicate in size yet unmistakable once you catch it in good light. Its plumage is strikingly clean: snow-white head, breast, and tail set against soft gray wings, each marked with bold black patches at the shoulders. In bright sun, the effect is sharp and simple, as if the bird were carved from light and shadow.
Add the piercing red eyes on a pale, owl-like face, and the kite’s expression becomes one of intensity, even in stillness.
In flight, the silhouette is slim and buoyant, with long, narrow wings and a tail that flares like a fan when braking in the air. Unlike the steady circles of hawks or the wobbling rock of vultures, kites have their own style: a trembling hover that looks almost mechanical, wings beating just enough to hold them perfectly in place above the grass. From the ground, the bird seems suspended — anchored to the sky by nothing but its will.
Perched, the kite looks dainty compared to bulkier raptors, often sitting lightly on a bare branch or fencepost, surveying the fields below. But once airborne, its elegance becomes clear.
The combination of crisp white plumage, quivering hover, and sudden, precise dives makes the White-tailed Kite one of the easiest raptors to recognize — and one of the most mesmerizing to watch.
Behavior & Flight Style
The White-tailed Kite’s defining move is right there in its name: kiting. Unlike most raptors that rely on long glides or circling thermals, kites hover in place, wings trembling furiously while their body hangs nearly motionless against the wind. From this perch in the sky, they scan the ground for the twitch of a vole or the ripple of grass that betrays a mouse.
Once prey is spotted, the hover ends in an instant — wings fold, body tips forward, and the bird drops straight down in a quick, efficient dive.
In the air, they appear weightless. Their flight is buoyant and graceful, marked by smooth glides that transition seamlessly into hovers. They rarely soar high like hawks; instead, they keep close to the fields and meadows that feed them, patrolling a narrow band of sky with quiet determination.
When the wind is right, a kite can hold its place for long minutes, suspended like a marionette on invisible strings.
On the ground or perched, they’re lighter and more delicate than most raptors, often balancing on exposed branches or fenceposts with an almost falcon-like poise.
But the transformation comes once they take flight. Their hovering hunt is so distinctive that even a distant speck over an open field is enough for identification. Among North American raptors, no other bird carries itself in quite the same way.
Diet & Hunting
The White-tailed Kite is a specialist, and its focus is small mammals. Voles, mice, and other rodents make up the bulk of its diet, and its entire hunting strategy is fine-tuned for catching them. Unlike generalist hawks that will settle for rabbits, snakes, or even carrion, kites keep their menu narrow and their technique precise.
They spend hours working a patch of open ground, hovering in place until the faintest movement below betrays a meal.
When the strike comes, it is swift and efficient. From a trembling hover, the kite tips forward, wings folding just enough to control the fall. The dive is not the long, spear-like plunge of an osprey, but a short, targeted drop. Talons spread, the bird hits the ground with accuracy, pinning its prey before it has a chance to disappear into cover.
More often than not, the strike is successful, a testament to a hunting style built on patience and repetition.
In times of plenty, White-tailed Kites may take more than they need, caching extra kills in trees or shrubs to return to later. Though rodents dominate their diet, they occasionally take small birds, reptiles, or large insects, especially when feeding young.
Still, the image of a kite hanging motionless in the wind, eyes locked on the grasses below, is the essence of its hunting life — a predator that has perfected the art of waiting for the exact moment to fall.
Migration & Range
White-tailed Kites are not long-distance migrants like ospreys or broad-winged hawks. Instead, they are largely resident birds, holding territories year-round wherever food and open country remain reliable. In California, Texas, and much of Mexico, they can be seen in the same fields season after season, their hovering hunts a constant presence above the grass.
Northern populations, however, show more movement. In colder regions, when winter snows bury the meadows and small mammals grow scarce, kites may drift southward, shifting into milder lowlands or neighboring states.
These movements aren’t dramatic mass migrations but subtle dispersals, guided more by prey availability than by instinctive seasonal routes.
Their overall range is vast, stretching from the western and southern United States through Central America and deep into South America. Wherever you find wide-open spaces — grasslands, marshes, savannas, or even agricultural fields — there’s a chance of spotting that ghostly shape hovering above the ground.
Though their presence can seem delicate, even rare, White-tailed Kites have proven remarkably resilient in reclaiming parts of their range, particularly in the American West, where their comeback from near disappearance is one of the quieter conservation success stories.
Nesting & Life Cycle
White-tailed Kites are subtle nesters, preferring the edges of open fields where tall trees or dense shrubs provide cover. Their nests are modest stick platforms, built in the crowns of oaks, willows, or other scattered trees overlooking grasslands.
Each year, the pair refurbishes or rebuilds the structure, lining it with grasses, leaves, and softer materials to cradle the eggs. From a distance, the nest often looks unremarkable, but within it begins a cycle of surprising intensity.
Breeding pairs are monogamous during the season, with courtship flights that are as elegant as their hovering hunts. The male will rise and dive, offering prey midair to the female, a gift that cements the bond. Once nesting begins, the female lays three to six eggs. She handles most of the incubation while the male supplies food, hovering above the fields and returning with rodents for his mate.
Chicks hatch after about a month, covered in down and dependent on their parents for constant care. For the first few weeks, the female broods them while the male continues to provide. As the young grow, both parents hunt tirelessly, their catches arriving at the nest in a steady rhythm.
By five weeks, the fledglings are stretching wings at the edge of the nest, soon launching into clumsy flights over the nearby fields. Even after leaving the nest, they linger close, shadowing their parents as they refine the hovering skills and precision dives that will define their lives.
Sounds
The White-tailed Kite doesn’t have the commanding scream of a hawk or the eerie silence of a vulture. Its voice is higher, sharper, and almost falcon-like — thin whistles and squeaky calls that carry farther than you might expect from such a delicate sound. In flight, especially during courtship or territorial encounters, kites give a series of rapid, high-pitched notes, almost like a whistle sharpened to a point.
Around the nest, their calls grow more insistent. Mated pairs exchange squeaky back-and-forth chatter, while young birds beg with shrill, repetitive cries that intensify the moment a parent approaches with prey.
These sounds are not musical, nor are they meant to be. Instead, they are direct and purposeful — communication tuned to open spaces where a high, piercing whistle can cut across the wind and the rustle of grass.
In the larger chorus of raptors, the White-tailed Kite’s voice may not be dramatic, but it is distinctive. Once you learn its thin, falcon-like whistle, you’ll start to recognize it drifting over fields even before you spot that white body trembling in a hover.
Conservation
The White-tailed Kite is a survivor with a quiet but remarkable story. In the early 20th century, they nearly vanished from California due to habitat loss and unregulated hunting. For decades, sightings were rare, and the bird was thought by many to be on its way out. But with protection and the regrowth of open landscapes, kites staged a comeback.
Today, they are once again a familiar sight in western fields, hovering over farmland and grasslands where rodents are plentiful.
Across their wider range in the Americas, populations are stable, though vulnerable to the same pressures that threaten most open-country raptors: habitat loss, pesticide use, and urban expansion. In places where fields are plowed under or grasslands converted, kites can disappear quickly. Yet where open country remains, they adapt well, even using agricultural fields as reliable hunting grounds.
Cool Fact: The “kiting” behavior that gives the bird its name is so steady it looks mechanical. From the ground, a hovering kite can seem frozen in place, wings trembling endlessly while the bird waits for the perfect moment to strike.
The White-tailed Kite is a bird of elegance and patience, a hunter that seems to defy gravity as it hovers above the fields. With crisp plumage, buoyant flight, and a diet tuned to the rhythm of open country, it is a ghostly presence over grasslands and marshes.
Watching one hang motionless in the sky, wings trembling and eyes locked below, is to witness a moment of perfect stillness balanced on the edge of sudden action. Few raptors combine such delicacy with such precision — a reminder that even the smallest hunters can command the widest skies.