White-Tailed Kite

White-tailed Kites have a limited distribution in the United States, so your best bet is to head to a grassland in California or Texas. They generally start foraging just after dawn, when you'll likely catch them hovering into the wind with their head hanging down. You might also be able to catch them hovering in grassy fields at the edges of highways as you drive by. During the nonbreeding season, head out around dusk to watch groups come into roost in trees and tall shrubs at the edges of grasslands. 

   Grasslands and savannas are great places to fly a kite and that's exactly where you will find the White-tailed Kite, flying as if it were attached to a kite string. With its body turned toward the wind and wings gently flapping, it hovers above the ground, a behavior that’s so distinctive it’s become known as kiting. From above it tips its head down to look for small mammals moving in the grass below. Its white underparts, gleaming white tail, and black shoulder patches are its other marks of distinction. 

White-tailed Kites have a tiny range in the U.S., but they occur throughout the Americas, breeding as far south as Chile and Argentina. A closely related and very similar species, the Black-shouldered Kite, occurs across Europe, Africa, and Asia. This one was spotted at mile marker 23 on highway 82.