Belize Biodiversity Information System NAME - Black-shouldered Kite FAMILY - Accipitridae SCIENTIFIC NAME - Elanus leucurus majusculus SYNONYMS - Elanus caeruleus majusculus and Falco caeruleus - Defontaines, 1789 REFERENCES - 1 and 2 National abundance, Conservation or Economic Status Reference Resident, species present all year. 28 Apparently secure in Belize 27 Uncommon: occur at low density in proper habitat. 27 Resident, species present all year. 3 U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty 21 District Reference Belize 4 Cayo 4 Corozal 9 Orange Walk 4 Administrative Unit Occurrence Temporal Reference Chiquibul Forest Reserve Permanent 16 Columbia River Forest Reserve 18 Shipstern Nature Reserve Dry season 9 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 14 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 23 Gallon Jug Sighting Dry season 4 Gallon Jug 13 Chiquibul National Park 16 Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary 22 Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary Sighting Dry season 6 Community Baboon Sanctuary 15 Lamanai Archaeological Reserve Dry season 7 Altun Ha Archaeological Reserve Dry season 25 Caracol Archaeological Reserve Sighting Dry season 5 Mussel Creek Drainage (Proposed) Dry season 8 Private land, see comments Collected as voucher 26 Private land, see comments Sighting Wet season 20 Private land, see comments 12 Private land, see comments Permanent 10 Private land, see comments 16 Private land, see comments 17 Private land, see comments 20 Government land Sighting Wet season 11 Government land 17 Hydrologic Association Reference New River Lagoon 23 Monkey River 12 Sibun River 6 New River 7 Elevation Reference 1-200 m 20 1-200 m 23 1-200 m 24 1-200 m 25 1-200 m 26 1:50,000 Quadrangle Reference 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 7 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 25 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 24 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 4 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 45' to 89 00' 24 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 15 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 17 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 23 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 16 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 17 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 24 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 4 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 16 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 20 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 24 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 6 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 24 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 4 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 30' to 88 45' 24 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 30' to 88 45' 5 16 45' to 17 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 16 16 45' to 17 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 5 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 22 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' 26 16 30' to 16 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 22 16 15' to 16 30'; 89 00' to 89 15' 18 18 15' to 18 30'; 88 00' to 88 15' 9 16 15' to 16 30'; 88 15' to 88 30' 12 16 00' to 16 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 17 16 00' to 16 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 20 16 00' to 16 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 12 16 00' to 16 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 8 17 45' to 18 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 14 17 45' to 18 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 20 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 10 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 20 Holdridge Life Zone Reference Tropical moist-transition to Subtropical 26 Tropical moist-transition to Subtropical 24 Tropical moist-transition to Subtropical 20 Subtropical wet 22 Subtropical wet 20 Subtropical moist 25 Subtropical moist 24 Subtropical moist 23 Subtropical moist 20 General Distribution Comments 28* Common northern semideciduous moist forest. Common southern moist-wet evergreen broadleaf forests. Common coastal/low-lands savannas, inc. marshy areas. Uncommon mangroves lowlands & coastal beaches. Uncommon cayes inc. Ambergris. 3* Common in northern hardwood forests, common in southern hardwood forests, uncommon in the Mountain Pine Ridge, common in coastal savannahs. 18* Jimmy Cut 17* Airport Camp; Big Falls Rice Farm 16* Guacamallo; Big Falls; Airport Camp 12* All Pines; Toledo Settlement, 4 mi. W of Punta Gorda 11* More Tomorrow 10* Gold Button Ranch 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., 1994. Belize Christmas Bird Counts, Twenty Year Summary. in prep. 5 Miller, B. W., C. M. Miller. 1994, Birds of Caracol, 1988 - 1993. in prep. 6 Anon. 1994. Monkey Bay Checklist of Birds. Unpublished list. 7 Noble, B., B. Stewart, J. Dillon. 1994. Lamanai Bird List, Mid-October 1993 - 16 March 1994. 8 Weyer, D. 1984. Diurnal Birds of Prey of Belize. The Hawk Trust. Vol. 14 pp.23 - 39. 9 Meerman, J. 1993. Checklist of the Birds of the Shipstern Nature Reserve, Occasional Papers of the Belize Natural History Society. 2(10). pp. 71-81. 10 Platt, S. 1993. Wildlife Survey of Gold Button Ranch, Belize. Unpublished report. 11 McDuffie, P. 1993. Personal Bird List for Belize: September 1, 1989 - December 15, 1993. Unpublished list. 12 Russell, S. M. 1964. A Distributional Study of the Birds of British Honduras. Ornithological Monographs No. 1, A.O.U. 13 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1994. A working checklist of the birds of Gallon Jug. Unpublished list. 14 Anon. 1994 (August). Working Checklist, Birds of Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area. Unpublished list. 15 O'Connell, S. 1987. in Horwich, R. H. and J. Lyon. The Community Baboon Sanctuary, A Guide Book. Orangu-tan Press, Gays Mills, WI. pp. 113. 16 Counsell, D.J.R., B. Etheridge. 1986. RAFOS Expedition to Belize. Unpublished report. 17 Hallchurch, T.T., compiler. 1982. Exercise King Vulture Belize 23 Feb.- 16 March. Unpub. report for the British Army Bird Watching Society. 18 Jenkins, P. G. 1982. The Royal Air Force Ornithological Society Belize Expedition, 1981. 80.pp Unpublished report. 19 Howell, S. N. G., S. Webb. 1995. A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. New York. Oxford University Press. 20 Robbins, Chandler. 1996. U.S.F.& Wildlife Service Wintering Bird Surveys for Belize. Unpublished data provided by C. Robbins. 21 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). 22 Kamstra, J. May 1987. An Ecological Survey of the Cockscomb Basin, Belize. Masters Thesis. York University, Ontario, Canada 23 Vallely, A. C., A. A. Whitman. 1996. The birds of Hill Bank, northern Belize. Unpublished report for Programme for Belize. 24 Miller, B. W. 1997. Belize Christmas Bird Count Summary 1970-1995. Data from American Birds Vol. 28-50 including 1973-1996. 25 ROM. 1997. Royal Ontario Museum, Division of Birds, Holdings of Belize specimens through Jan. 1, 1997. Provided by Brad Millen. 26 Panza, R. 1997. Carnegie Museum, Division of Birds, Holdings of Belize specimens through Jun. 1, 1997. 27 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. 28 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