The snail kite is a bird of prey within the family Accipitridae, which also includes the eagles, hawks, and Old World vultures. Its relative, the slender-billed kite, is now again placed in Helicolestes, making the genus Rostrhamus monotypic. Usually, it is placed in the Milvine kites, but the validity of that grouping is under investigation.
Region
Neotropics
Typical Environment
Found from the southeastern United States (notably Florida) through the Caribbean and Central America into much of South America, including the Llanos and Pantanal. Prefers extensive, shallow freshwater wetlands, marshes, and lake margins with abundant emergent vegetation. Typically occurs where large apple snails (Pomacea spp.) are present, often shifting locally as water levels rise or fall. Roosts communally near foraging areas and uses scattered trees, bushes, or reed beds for perches.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1000 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
A specialist raptor, the snail kite’s long, sharply hooked bill is adapted to extract apple snails from their shells. Its fortunes closely track wetland water levels and apple snail availability, making it sensitive to hydrological change. In Florida, the spread of invasive apple snails has altered its foraging ecology and helped sustain some populations, though habitat loss remains a concern.
Juvenile
Female Snail Kite, Lake Okeechobee, Florida
Male Snail Kite, Lake Okeechobee, Florida
Adult male Everglades snail kite in Joe Overstreet Landing, Florida.
Eating a snail
Temperament
social and active
Flight Pattern
buoyant flap-and-glide, often quartering low over marshes; occasional brief hovering
Social Behavior
Often forages in loose groups and may form communal roosts. Nests over water in marsh vegetation or low shrubs, sometimes semi-colonially when prey is abundant. Pair bonds and breeding effort track water levels and snail availability, leading to irregular breeding in some areas.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Vocalizations are high, whistled calls and sharp peeps used in contact and territorial contexts. Display flights may be accompanied by repeated, thin whistles carrying over wetlands.
Plumage
Males are mostly dark slate-gray with darker flight feathers; females and juveniles are brown with heavy whitish streaking below. Both sexes show long, narrow wings and a long tail, with a distinctly decurved bill. Sexes are strongly dimorphic in color but share the same sleek, kite-like profile.
Diet
Highly specialized on apple snails, which it extracts by inserting its hooked bill into the shell aperture and severing the muscle attachment. Will occasionally take other aquatic prey such as crayfish or small crabs where available, but mollusks dominate the diet. Foraging success depends on shallow water that concentrates snails on exposed vegetation.
Preferred Environment
Feeds over shallow freshwater marshes, edges of lakes and sloughs, and slow-moving backwaters with cattails, sawgrass, or other emergent plants. Regularly uses low perches to scan for snails before dropping to seize them at or just below the surface.
