Black-shouldered Kite

This lithe and beautiful little raptor is checking out a pasture in tropical Queensland, northeast Australia. 

Black-shouldered Kites hunt from such perches in open country.  They also hover like kestrels.  They often hunt during crepuscular time periods.

This species, like the similar Letter-winged Kite (Elanus scriptus), are specialist predators of small mammals.  Black-shouldered Kites may have increased over the past century along the Australian coasts because of increases in one of their introduced prey species, the house mouse.  

--LiveScience Staff

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Credit: Credit: Dr. Bruce G. Marcot