The Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris) is featured this month in the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority’s 2026 Year of the Raptor community awareness campaign.
Raptors are carnivorous birds of prey that hunt and feed on live prey including rabbits, rodents, fish, lizards and other birds.
Black-shouldered Kite. Photograph by Jenny Younger
Goulburn Broken CMA Project Officer, Janice Mentiplay-Smith, said the Black-Shouldered kite was gull-like in appearance.
“This bird can be seen hovering above open grasslands, paddocks and even grassy median strips on the Hume Freeway,” Ms Mentiplay-Smith said.
As if held by an invisible string, the hovering Black-shouldered Kite suspends itself mid-flight while scanning for prey.
“Once detected, it drops like a stone to grab its meal then flies away before a larger raptor steals it. Prey is eaten either in flight or from a tall lookout such as a standing dead tree.”
Ms Mentiplay-Smith said not all raptors employ the hovering technique.
“Many soar and dive but the Black-shouldered kite hovers in style, suspended in mid-air with legs dangling.”
True to its name, the Black-shouldered Kite has black shoulders and wing tips which contrast against its snow-white body. Its distinctive red eye is notable, as is its dark feathers, extending beyond the eye ‘Cleopatra style’.
As part of the Black-shouldered Kite courtship ritual, the female will flip upside-down in mid-air to grab food offered by the wooing male. Together they construct a large stick nest in a tall tree and incubate three or four eggs for 30 days. After just five weeks the chicks are fully fledged and ready to hover and hunt.
“Most raptors need tall lookouts and places to fly to so they can safely eat their catch,” Ms Mentiplay-Smith said.
“Therefore, standing dead trees are vital habitat. Without these tall vantage points, raptors like the Black-shouldered Kite can’t persist in the landscape and these important links in the ecological chain are lost.”
Before European settlement and the expansion of agriculture, the Black-shouldered Kite dined on a variety of small, native ground dwelling animals; nowadays rabbits and introduced rodents form much of its diet, inadvertently delivering farmers a useful ecosystem service.
Local birding group, Murray Goulburn BirdLife, meet monthly to conduct outings and enjoy the local environment. The next event is on Saturday 20 June at the Wyuna Nature Conservation Reserve. For more information, contact: robertsdon680@gmail.com
Learning more about a species and its requirements is a positive first step in helping it and the environment it relies on. BirdLife Australia’s Raptor Group promotes the conservation, management and study of Australia's birds of prey and fosters communication and cooperation among raptor enthusiasts across Australasia. For more information visit https://ausraptorgroup.org
Black-shouldered Kite. Photograph by Jenny Younger
Black-shouldered Kite. Photograph by Richard Gregson
The Year of the Raptor is supported by the Victorian Government through the Our Catchments Our Communities stewardship program.