Elanus

Taxobox
name = "Elanus"

---

image_caption = Black-winged Kite
image_width = 300px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Falconiformes
familia = Accipitridae
genus = "Elanus"
genus_authority = Savigny, 1809
subdivision_ranks = species
subdivision = "E. caeruleus"
"E. axillaris"
"E. leucurus"
"E. scriptus"

"Elanus" is a genus of bird of prey in the elanid kite subfamily. It consists of four species.

* Black-winged Kite, "Elanus caeruleus"
* Australian Black-shouldered Kite, "Elanus axillaris"
* White-tailed Kite, "Elanus leucurus"
* Letter-winged Kite, "Elanus scriptus"

The first three species above were considered conspecific as subspecies of the Black-shouldered Kite.

These are white and grey raptors of open country, with black shoulder 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.

References

*Ferguson-Lees, Christie, Franklin, Mead and Burton Raptors of the World ISBN: 0713680261