In Suriname a fairly common resident, migrant and breeding brid. Found in the open savannah and coastal plains in areas with scattered trees.

White-tailed Kites are found in open grasslands with scattered trees for nesting and perching. They are often found along tree-lined river valleys with adjacent open areas, but are not usually found in forests or in clearcuts within forests.

White-tailed Kites form a monogamous pair in December, and the pair stays together year round. Nest building starts in January. They nest in the top of a tree, usually 20-50 feet off the ground. Both members of the pair help build the nest, which is made of twigs and lined with grass, weeds, or leaves. The male brings food to the female as she incubates 4 eggs for 30-32 days. Once the eggs hatch, the male continues to bring food to the brooding female, who feeds it to the young. The young begin to fly at 30-35 days, but don't start catching their own prey for at least another month. The pair may raise a second brood.

Small mammals, especially voles, make up the majority of the White-tailed Kite's diet.

This species has a large range, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 9,400,000 km². It has a large global population estimated to be 100,000-1,000,000 individuals (Ferguson-Lees et al. 2001). Global population trends have not been quantified, but there is evidence of a population increase (Ferguson-Lees et al. 2001), and so the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Migratory or nomadic, when prey abundance declines. In California, one population stayed in a reserve, despite sharp drop in prey (vole) abundance, even continuing to catch same proportion of voles, but presumably requiring more time per capture. Transition between migratory and resident populations unknown, especially in Southern South America. Birds from extreme South of range move North to Central Chile in May-June. in Surinam, most birds are austral migrants, although a few breed. Congregates in large flocks in winter. Often roosts in flocks, usually in trees, one flock of over 100 birds roosted overnight in tall sugarcane, after staging on ground in nearby ploughed field.

article number 1 Title
Food partitioning between breeding White-tailed Kites (Elanus leucurus; Aves; Accipitridae) and Barn Owls (Tyto alba; Aves; Tytonidae) in southern Brazil
Author(s): Scheibler, DR.
Abstract: I examined the diet of breeding White-tailed Kites (Elanus leucurus; Aves; Accipitridae) and Barn Owls (Tyto alba; Aves; Tytonidae) in an agrarian area of southern Brazil by analyzing regurgitated pre..[more]..
Source: Braz. J. Biol., 67(1): 65-71, 2007
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article number 2 Title
Elanus leucurus breeding in Surinam
Author(s): F. HAVERSCHMIDT
Abstract: The South American race of the White-tailed Kite (E. l. leucurus) according to Hellmayr and Conover ('Catalogue of Birds of the Americas'. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Set. 13, pt. 1, No. 4: 18, 1949)..[more]..
Source: The Auk, 76(4)
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article number 3 Title
PREY OF THE WHITE-TAILED KITE IN CENTRAL CHILE AND ITS RELATION TO THE HUNTING HABITAT
Author(s): ROBERTO SCHLATTER, BENIGNO TORO et al
Abstract: Between November 1973 and January 1974 we collected 702 pellets of Whitetailed Kites (Elanus lecurus) in two areas of central Chile differing in their vegetation physiognomy (disturbed versus undistur..[more]..
Source: The Auk 97: 186-190. January 1980
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