Belize Biodiversity Information System NAME - Snail Kite FAMILY - Accipitridae SCIENTIFIC NAME - Rostrhamus sociabilis major SYNONYMS - Herpetotheres sociabilis REFERENCES - 1 and 2 National abundance, Conservation or Economic Status Reference Resident, species present all year. 28 Resident, species present all year. 2 Apparently secure in Belize 27 Rare: low density, unlikely to be seen, few localities 27 U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty 21 District Reference Belize 3 Corozal 9 Orange Walk 7 Administrative Unit Occurrence Temporal Reference Coastal zone, not including cayes. Sighting Dry season 18 Freshwater Creek Forest Reserve 11 Shipstern Nature Reserve Sighting Dry season 9 Shipstern Nature Reserve 20 Rio Bravo Conservation Area Dry season 13 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 15 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 23 Gallon Jug Dry season 13 Gallon Jug 14 Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary Sighting Wet season 8 Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary Dry season 16 Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary 22 Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary 6 Community Baboon Sanctuary Permanent 19 Lamanai Archaeological Reserve 7 Altun Ha Archaeological Reserve Sighting Permanent 12 Altun Ha Archaeological Reserve 25 Mussel Creek Drainage (Proposed) 3 Mussel Creek Drainage (Proposed) 5 Private land, see comments Collected as voucher 26 Private land, see comments Sighting Dry season 10 Private land, see comments Sighting Dry season 8 Private land, see comments Accidental 18 Private land, see comments Dry season 16 Private land, see comments Dry season 17 Government land Dry season 16 Government land 18 Hydrologic Association Reference New River Lagoon 23 Belize River 19 New River 13 Cox's Lagoon 3 Mussel Creek 5 Sibun River 6 New River 7 Elevation Reference 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' 13 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 16 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 7 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 12 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 25 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 13 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 13 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 15 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 18 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 19 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 23 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 8 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' 18 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 24 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 25 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' 3 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 22 16 30' to 16 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 22 18 15' to 18 30'; 88 00' to 88 15' 20 18 15' to 18 30'; 88 00' to 88 15' 9 16 00' to 16 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 17 18 00' to 18 15'; 88 15' to 88 30' 11 18 00' to 18 15'; 88 15' to 88 30' 26 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 10 Holdridge Life Zone Reference Subtropical wet 22 Subtropical moist 26 Subtropical moist 25 Subtropical moist 24 Subtropical moist 23 Subtropical moist 20 Subtropical moist 19 General Distribution Comments 28* Common northern semideciduous moist forest. Uncommon southern moist-wet evergreen broadleaf forests. Common coastal/low-lands savannas, inc. marshy areas. Uncommon mangroves lowlands & coastal beaches. 22* Sp. not observed by Kamstra, recorded by Mike Konecny 18* Airport Camp; Big Falls Rice Farm 17* Airport Camp; Blue Creek 16* Airport Camp; Big Falls 11* Button Lagoon 10* Gold Button Ranch 9* Mainly Chacan Chac Mol 8* Big Falls Rice Farm 2* Permanent resident, common northern hardwood forests and coastal savannas; uncommon southern hardwood forests, mangroves and beaches along the coast of the mainland. References 1 A.O.U. 1983. Checklist of North American Birds. 6th Ed. 2 Wood, D.S.,R. C. Leberman, and D. Weyer. 1986. Checklist of Birds of Belize. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication 12. 3 Hunt, H. R., J. Tamarack. 1992. Cox Lagoon Crocodile Preserve. Unpub. report. pp.4-8. 4 Miller, B. W., 1994. Belize Christmas Bird Counts, Twenty Year Summary. in prep. 5 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1987. Conservation of a Critical Marsh and Lowland habitat, Mussel Creek drainage system, Belize, C.A. Report to NYZS/Wildlife Conservation Society. 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 Reichelt, B., C. Philcox. 1994. DRAFT - Freshwater Creek Forest Reserve Natural History Studies. Unpublished report. 12 McDuffie, P. 1993. Personal Bird List for Belize: September 1, 1989 - December 15, 1993. Unpublished list. 13 Russell, S. M. 1964. A Distributional Study of the Birds of British Honduras. Ornithological Monographs No. 1, A.O.U. 14 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1994. A working checklist of the birds of Gallon Jug. Unpublished list. 15 Anon. 1994 (August). Working Checklist, Birds of Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area. Unpublished list. 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 James, D., J. Bider. 1993. Bird List: Community Baboon Sanctuary, 1989- 1993 (derived from banding & census data, field notes). Unpublished data 20 Quigley, H. B., B. W. Miller, C. M. Miller. 1995. Mammal Survey, Shipstern Nature Reserve, April 4-13, 1995. Unpublished report for ITCF. 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