All species › Birds of prey › Hawks, eagles and kites › Hook-billed Kite
Hook-billed Kite | Chondrohierax uncinatus
Langsnavelwouw | Gavilán piquiganchudo
The Hook-billed Kite is a specialised snail-eater with a heavy, strongly hooked bill that it uses to extract tree snails from their shells. In the region it lives on Trinidad and on Grenada, where its own subspecies, C. u. mirus, occurs in a small population. Plumage varies greatly, with marked differences between males, females and a rare dark morph.
Voice
Usually silent. At the nest and in flight a rapid, chattering or rolling series of whistled notes.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
38–42 cm, with broad, paddle-shaped wings pinched in at the base, a long tail and a large, hooked bill; above the bill a bare greenish-yellow loral patch, and the iris is pale. The male is grey above and grey or grey-and-white barred below, with two broad grey bands in the black tail. The female is brown above with a grey head, a rufous hindcollar and rufous-and-white barred underparts. The dark morph is all blackish with a single broad white tail band. Juveniles are dark brown above and whitish below, with a pale hindcollar. In flight the broad, heavily barred primaries stand out.
Confusion species
Grey-headed Kite Leptodon cayanensis has a small blue-grey bill, white underparts and black underwing coverts. Broad-winged Hawk Buteo platypterus, also on Grenada and Trinidad, has a small bill, a shorter tail and more pointed wings not pinched at the base. Double-toothed Kite Harpagus bidentatus on Trinidad is smaller, with a white throat with a dark central stripe and fluffy white undertail coverts that show in flight.
Habitat
On Grenada both dry deciduous forest and scrub in the south-west and moister forest in the interior, including around Grand Etang; on Trinidad humid and semi-evergreen forest in hills and lowlands. It feeds almost entirely on tree snails and land snails, sought in the understorey and mid-levels of the forest, plus frogs, lizards and large insects. Its density depends on the supply of snails. The nest is a flimsy platform of twigs in a tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Resident on Grenada (subspecies mirus) and Trinidad. Reports from other islands are rare and often doubtful; old reports from Cuba refer to Cuban Kite Chondrohierax wilsonii. Outside the region from southern Texas and Mexico through Central America to northern Argentina.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Winter visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
On Trinidad best looked for from viewpoints in the Northern Range, when birds soar over the forest in the morning thermals and show the distinctive wing shape. On Grenada it is scarce and best searched for in the dry forest of the south-west; empty, broken snail shells beneath a branch reveal a feeding perch.
Conservation status
Not threatened as a species. The Grenada subspecies numbers at most a few dozen birds; 15 were seen during surveys in 2000. Loss of forest, especially of the dry forest in the south-west to development, and persecution are the main threats there.
Scientific name
Chondrohierax uncinatus | (Temminck, 1822)
Temminck described the species in 1822 as Falco uncinatus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Chondrohierax was introduced in 1843 by Lesson. Chondrohierax is Greek, from khondros 'coarse' or 'cartilage' and hierax 'hawk'; possibly because this kite lacks a bony shield above the eye. uncinatus is Latin for 'hooked', from uncus 'hook', after the large, strongly hooked bill. The specimen the first description was based on came from northern Brazil and the Guianas (not specified).