White-tailed Kites are regular breeding birds in coastal areas of Texas, where they are year-round residents in areas with grasslands and large meadows. Similar to kestrels, these birds like to hover in place over a specific spot, while waiting for a rodent to come out of its burrow on the ground below. These birds hunt for small rodents, insects and reptiles in open grassland, either from a perch or on the wing. Juvenile birds, on the other hand, have a more brownish color with light streaks. Their upper side is light gray, with dark gray patches on the shoulders. With a wingspan of about 3 feet, the White-tailed Kite is considerably smaller than the Swallow-tailed Kite.Īdults are almost entirely white birds when viewed from below, with a white underside, head, and tail. Related: Types of large birds in Texas White-tailed Kite They migrate to southern Brazil to spend the winter. These birds are summer visitors in Texas, arriving in March, and leaving again in September. Their preferred habitats are usually forested swamp areas, although they also forage over farmland. Swallow-tailed Kites used to be common throughout eastern Texas, but now only occur in a very small area of the southeast corner of the state. Where can you see Swallow-tailed Kites in Texas?

Texas currently has the largest population of breeding Swallow-tailed Kites in North America. They also use the wind to hover in place, which is a behavior known as “kiting.” Whenever there is a sufficiently strong wind, these birds are capable of flying while hardly beating their wings. Outside of the breeding season the preferred food of these birds are flying insects, but when a pair is raising its young, small reptiles, amphibians, and rodents are also included in their diet. This Texas raptor is a skilled hunter and capable of catching insects in flight, as well as snatching lizards from branches. When perched on a tree, its white head and chest contrast with the dark grayish black upperside. The rear margins of the wings and the tail are black. It is easy to identify in flight, due to the combination of its bright white underparts with its dark wings and deeply forked tail.

With a wingspan of up to 5 feet, this elegant raptor is the largest kite species in Texas. Now let’s dive into the details, and take a closer look at each of these kite birds: Swallow-tailed Kite While all of these kite species are regular breeding birds in Texas, some are present all year round, while others are migratory birds that only occur in the state during summer. The 4 types of kite birds found in Texas are: What are the types of kite birds in Texas? To help you identify the bird you saw, we’ll cover all the kite birds of Texas in this article. Identifying kite species in the Lone Star State is not as easy as it might seem, since there are four types of kites that regularly occur in Texas. Did you recently come across a kite bird in Texas, and want to know what species it was?

Bird kite species