Hook-billed kite

Appearance

It is a mid-sized, slender raptor with an invariably striped belly and banded tail but there is probably more individual variation in color and in size of bill than in any other species of diurnal raptor. Birds from beneath can look blackish or gray and brown or brick-red variously. This renders species identification at times extremely difficult. The downcurved hook at the tip of the beak is apparent on perched and low-flying birds. Weight can range from 215 to 397 g and length is 38–51 cm.

Food

Tree snails are this raptor's favorite prey but frogs, salamanders, small mammals and insects are also taken. When it finds a tree snail it holds it with its talon and uses its beak to pry open the shell. The nest is a flimsy platform of sticks is built by both sexes. The hook-billed kite lays two to three buff-white eggs marked with red-brown. Incubation is by both sexes. Semialtricial young stay in the nest 35–45 days and are fed by both sexes. This raptor is often considered sluggish and retiring, preferring to perch inside leafy canopy when not flying.