White-collared Kite

Taxobox
name = White-collared Kite
status = CR | status_system = IUCN3.1
trend = down
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Falconiformes
familia = Accipitridae
genus = "Leptodon"
species = "L. forbesi"
binomial = "Leptodon forbesi"
binomial_authority = (Swann, 1922)
range_

range_map_width = 200px
range_map_caption = White-collared Kite range

The White-collared Kite, "Leptodon forbesi", is a South American raptor. It breeds in north eastern Brazil.

The White-collared Kite is 50cm in length. The adult has a grey head with white hindneck, black upperparts, white underparts, and a grey tail with a very broad, black subterminal band and whitish tip. It is very similar to the more southerly distributed Grey-headed Kite ("L. cayanensis") and was often merged into it as a subspecies.

This species is classified as Critically Endangered. There have been very few sightings if it, and nothing is known of its feeding or breeding ecology. The areas in which it has been sighted, in coastal Alagoas and Pernambuco, has been subject to massive deforestation. The current population is estimated at less than 50 individuals.

The binomial commemorates the British zoologist William Alexander Forbes.

References

* Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is critically endangered and the criteria used

External links

* [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=9837&m=0 BirdLife Species Factsheet]