Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur

Order: Falconiformes - Family: Accipitridae
Habitat: Ponds and marshes

This raptor flies above the reserve generally in groups. It lands on the reserve depending on the availability of apple snails, its basic food

All records since January 2014

Adult male
© J. Simón Tagtachian Looks blackish. Thin hooked bill. Rump and undertail converts white. Black tail with apical white band. Legs orange or red. Cere orange and iris red

Adulto hembra
© J. Simón Tagtachian dark brown. Underparts heavily streaked white. Cere and face less colourful than male. Rectrices light barred black. Sometimes light spots on base of primaries. Two-coloured tail

Juvenile
© Pablo Serur Brown. Light eyebrow. Light underparts streaked brown. Dark iris.

8-2013 © J. Simón Tagtachian

8-2013 © J. Simón Tagtachian

10-2012 © J. S. Tagtachian

Flock
© J. Simón Tagtachian Glide in circles

Diet
*Snail KiteRostrhamus sociabilis*** 22 9 16 © J. Simón Tagtachian The Snail Kite, as its name suggests, feeds on Ampullaria freshwater snails known as apple snails. To extract the soft part it inserts the hook into the shell to cut the muscle which connects flesh to the shell. So the shell stays intact. The other snail predator is the limpkin which has a completely different bill. To reach the soft part the limpkin pecks at the shell making a hole. The presence or absence of a hole tells us about the predator. 22 9 16 © J. Simón Tagtachian

Diet

Snail KiteRostrhamus sociabilis

22 9 16 © J. Simón Tagtachian
The Snail Kite, as its name suggests, feeds on Ampullaria freshwater snails known as apple snails. To extract the soft part it inserts the hook into the shell to cut the muscle which connects flesh to the shell. So the shell stays intact. The other snail predator is the limpkin which has a completely different bill. To reach the soft part the limpkin pecks at the shell making a hole. The presence or absence of a hole tells us about the predator.

More photographic records since January 2013

Previous registros
10 13 © J. Simón Tagtachian	8 13 © Dolores Fernández
10 12 © J. Simón Tagtachian	8 08 © Hugo Hulsberg