| Elanus | |
|---|---|
 Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus) | |
| Scientific Classification | |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Aves |
| Order | Accipitriformes |
| Family | Accipitridae |
| Genus | Elanus |
Elanus is a genus of bird of prey in the Elaninae subfamily.
The first three species above were considered conspecific as subspecies of Elanus caeruleus, which has been known as the black-shouldered kite.
These are white and grey raptors of open country, with black wing markings and a short square tail. They hunt by slowly quartering the habitat for rodents and other small mammals, birds and insects, sometimes hovering like a kestrel.
Species[]
It contains the following species:
Black-shouldered Kite (Latham, 1801) (Elanus axillaris) Black-winged Kite (Desfontaines, 1789) (Elanus caeruleus) White-tailed Kite (Vieillot, 1818) (Elanus leucurus) Letter-winged Kite (Gould, 1842) (Elanus scriptus)