Belize Biodiversity Information System NAME - Swallow-tailed Kite FAMILY - Accipitridae SCIENTIFIC NAME - Elanoides forficatus yetapa SYNONYMS - Falco forficatus- Linnaeus 1758 REFERENCES - 1 National abundance, Conservation or Economic Status Reference Summer visitor - migrant 33 Transient, present briefly as migrant. 33 Apparently secure in Belize 32 Common: high density, likely to be seen in many places 32 Summer visitor - migrant 3 PIF Trend: Possible Increase 30 U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty 26 District Reference Belize 5 Cayo 4 Orange Walk 14 Stann Creek 8 Toledo 16 Administrative Unit Occurrence Temporal Reference Manatee Forest Reserve Wet season 8 Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve Sighting Wet season 4 Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve Summer Vis 25 Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve Dry season 15 Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve Dry season 24 Chiquibul Forest Reserve Sighting Dry season 17 Chiquibul Forest Reserve Sighting Dry season 18 Chiquibul Forest Reserve Dry season 23 Chiquibul Forest Reserve 9 Columbia River Forest Reserve Sighting Wet season 15 Chiquibul National Park Sighting August 16 Columbia River Forest Reserve 29 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 22 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 28 Gallon Jug Sighting Dry season 20 Gallon Jug Dry season 19 Gallon Jug 21 Chiquibul National Park Sighting Dry season 6 Chiquibul National Park Sighting Dry season 9 Chiquibul National Park Transient 25 Chiquibul National Park Dry season 23 Chiquibul National Park Dry season 24 Bladen Nature Reserve 13 Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary Sighting 27 Lamanai Archaeological Reserve 14 Caracol Archaeological Reserve Sighting Dry season 11 Mussel Creek Drainage (Proposed) 5 Northern Lagoon/Southern Lagoon (Prop 20 Private land, see comments Wet season 7 Private land, see comments 10 Private land, see comments 12 Private land, see comments 20 Private land, see comments Collected as voucher 31 Hydrologic Association Reference New River Lagoon 28 Sittee River 20 Rio Grande 20 Macal River 4 Cox's Lagoon 5 Bladen Branch 13 Belize River 7 Mullins River Drainage 8 Chiquibul River 9 Sittee River 12 New River 14 Raspaculo River 17 Elevation Reference 1100-1200 m 16 1-200 m 28 1-200 m 31 601-800 m 29 801-1000 m 29 1:50,000 Quadrangle Reference 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 14 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 20 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 28 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 00' to 88 15' 20 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 45' to 89 00' 7 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 5 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 00' to 88 10' 20 17 00' to 17 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 10 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 00' to 88 30' 20 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 00' to 88 30' 8 16 45' to 17 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 11 16 45' to 17 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 23 16 45' to 17 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 24 16 45' to 17 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 25 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 4 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 27 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 12 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 20 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 24 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 31 16 30' to 16 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 6 16 30' to 16 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 9 16 30' to 16 45'; 88 45' to 89 00' 9 16 30' to 16 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 27 16 30' to 16 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 31 16 15' to 16 30'; 89 00' to 89 15' 15 16 15' to 16 30'; 89 00' to 89 15' 16 16 15' to 16 30'; 89 00' to 89 15' 29 16 00' to 16 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 24 16 00' to 16 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 20 17 45' to 18 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 22 Holdridge Life Zone Reference Tropical moist-transition to Subtropical 31 Subtropical wet 31 Subtropical wet 27 Subtropical moist 28 Subtropical Lower Montane wet 29 Subtropical Lower Montane moist 29 Subtropical Lower Montane moist 16 General Distribution Comments 33* Common northern semideciduous moist forest. Common southern moist-wet evergreen broadleaf forests. Common Mtn. Pine Ridge/savannas on poor soil. Rare coastal/low-lands savannas, inc. marshy areas. Uncommon sub-tropical lower montane forest. 3* Common in northern hardwood forests, common in southern hardwood forests, common in the Mountain Pine Ridge, rare in coastal savannahs. 24* Guacamallo Bridge 23* Guacamallo 20* Belize 19* Chan Chich 13* Forest Hill; Pine ridge towards Richardson Peak 12* Possum Point Biological Station 10* Sighted at or within 5 mile radius of Chaa Creek Cottages 9* Los Cuevis Camp and Puente Natural 7* Banana Bank Ranch 4* Francelia Camp References 1 A.O.U. 1983. Checklist of North American Birds. 6th Ed. 2 A.O.U. 1985, 1987, 1989. 35th-37th Supplements. 3 Wood, D.S.,R. C. Leberman, and D. Weyer. 1986. Checklist of Birds of Belize. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication 12. 4 Miller, B.W.; C.M. Miller. 1992. Preliminary Avian Survey of the Upper Macal River: Rubber Camp and Francelia Camp, pp.55-63. in Macal River Hydroelectric Development Environmental Impact Assessment Rubber Camp and Chalillo Schemes Pre-feasibility Study - Draft Environmental Appendix. Vol. II of III 5 Hunt, H. R., J. Tamarack. 1992. Cox Lagoon Crocodile Preserve. Unpub. report. pp.4-8 6 Matola, S., ed. 1992. The Maya Divide Expedition 1-15 May. Unpub. report 7 Duncan, M., W. Duncan. 1993. Banana Bank, Nov. 1, Checklist provided in lit. 8 Miller, C., B. Miller. 1994. Avian Studies in the Upper Mullins River Basin, Feb. and May. Unpublished Report. 9 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1992. Biodiversity Reconnaissance in Chiquibul National Park, 13-19 July. Unpublished report. 10 Carnegie Ornithological Group and Mass Audubon Ornithological Group, compilers. 1993. Chaa Creek Bird List. Unpublished list. 11 Miller, B. W., C. M. Miller. 1994, Birds of Caracol, 1988 - 1993. in prep. 12 Anon. 1993. Bird Checklist for Possum Point Biological Station, Sittee River, Belize 13 Brokaw, N. L. V., T. L. Lloyd-Evans. 1987. The Bladen Branch Wilderness. p.38-42. Unpublished report. 14 Noble, B., B. Stewart, J. Dillon. 1994. Lamanai Bird List, Mid-October 1993 - 16 March 1994. 15 Weyer, D. 1984. Diurnal Birds of Prey of Belize. The Hawk Trust. Vol. 14 pp.23 - 39. 16 Matola, S., compiler. 1989. Doyle's Delight, 20 - 31 August. Unpublished report. 17 Mallory, E. 1991. Survey of Birds and their Habitats, of the Joint Services Scientific Expedition to Upper Raspaculo, Maya Mountains, Belize. 18 Mallory, E. 1993. Birds of the Upper Raspaculo, Belize: JSSEUR II. Unpublished report. 19 McDuffie, P. 1993. Personal Bird List for Belize: September 1, 1989 - December 15, 1993. Unpublished list. 20 Russell, S. M. 1964. A Distributional Study of the Birds of British Honduras. Ornithological Monographs No. 1, A.O.U. 21 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1994. A working checklist of the birds of Gallon Jug. Unpublished list. 22 Anon. 1994 (August). Working Checklist, Birds of Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area. Unpublished list. 23 Counsell, D.J.R., B. Etheridge. 1986. RAFOS Expedition to Belize. Unpublished report. 24 Hallchurch, T.T., compiler. 1982. Exercise King Vulture Belize 23 Feb.- 16 March. Unpub. report for the British Army Bird Watching Society. 25 Jenkins, P. G. 1982. The Royal Air Force Ornithological Society Belize Expedition, 1981. 80.pp Unpublished report. 26 Title 50 Code of Federal Regulations, Subchapter B., Part 10.13: List of Migratory Birds. U.S. Government Printing Office: 1985 0-488-794. (Lists all species of migratory birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703-711). 27 Kamstra, J. May 1987. An Ecological Survey of the Cockscomb Basin, Belize. Masters Thesis. York University, Ontario, Canada 28 Vallely, A. C., A. A. Whitman. 1996. The birds of Hill Bank, northern Belize. Unpublished report for Programme for Belize. 29 Jones, L., D. Gardner. 1997. Little Quartz Ridge Rapid Assessment Program. Executive Summary: Birds. Draft report for FPMP 30 Working Group, Partners in Flight. 1992. Needs Assessment: Monitoring Migratory Birds. Report for Neotropical Migratory Bird Program 31 Panza, R. 1997. Carnegie Museum, Division of Birds, Holdings of Belize specimens through Jun. 1, 1997. 32 Miller, B.W., C.M. Miller. 1997. Avian Risk Assessment for Belize, Species at Risk and of Conservation Concern. Report to Programme for Belize/TNC Wings of America Program. 33 Garcia, J., S. Matola, M. Meadows, and C. Wright. 1994. A Checklist of the Birds of Belize. WWF-US. 35p.
Wildlife Conservation Society
Ministry of Natural Resources' Land Information Centre
01/19/98