Unlike the Swallowtail Kite, this species does not confine its food to insects and reptiles but preys on field-mice, chipmunks, rabbits, lizards and snakes. Its method of hunting is not unlike the Marsh Hawk's, crossing the fields with long gliding sweeps, its pearl-gray body and black epaulets conspicuous in the southern sun.
When nesting, one parent will announce a successful hunt by a plaintive whistle and the other will leave the nest, meet its consort, take the quarry with a swift upward swoop from beneath, while the hunter sails away on another quest.
NEST: built of twigs and sticks; lined with grass; located in small trees, usually within twenty-five feet of the ground.
EGGS: 3 to 5: dull white, so heavily marked with blotches of red and brown as to obscure the ground color.
Southern United States, from California and Texas to South Carolina. Rare in eastern part of its range.
A slender tree up to 50 feet high, distributed thru Southern Florida.