White-tailed Kite

White-tailed Kite
Elanus leucurus

Formerly known as the “Black-shouldered Kite,” the White-tailed Kite can be readily identified by its white plumage, red eyes, and its hovering behavior while hunting.

They can be found year-round in distinct population patches that include western California and Oregon, southern Texas, and much of coastal and central Mexico. Once faced with extinction in California due to sport shooting and egg-collecting, federal protection has allowed this species to recover in the decades since the 1940s. Now, our state hosts one of the highest populations of White-tailed Kites in North America.

You can find these raptors in lower elevation habitats with open fields, where their main prey species—voles and mice—are in abundance. Avoiding the use of rodenticide in and around our homes can help this unique raptor thrive.

In 2017, Lindsay Wildlife acquired a White-tailed Kite- this was the first time in our then 62-year history that this species had ever been at the museum! Aptly named Dragon, due to her piercing call and her eventual blood red eyes, this White-tailed Kite originally came to our Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital as a nestling patient. After a brief stay, she was returned to the wild. However, a rescuer brought the kite back to Lindsay two months later after seeing her fly into a building window. The neurological injury from the impact, coupled with the bird’s unusually docile behavior around people, rendered this kite non-releasable. 

Dragon showed some loss of vision in late 2019. She began getting eye drops twice a day and spent time on our PEMF (Pulsed Electromagnetic Field) mat, which helps encourage the body’s natural recovery process. After a visit with veterinary ophthalmologist Dr. Tomo Wiggans, her eyes had started to absorb the cataracts first seen. She is moving around with much more accuracy and is doing well in her new outdoor aviary in our Nature Cove!

During her training sessions, Dragon will demonstrate just why these raptors are called kites by the signature hovering that these birds will do while hunting. 

As White-Tailed Kites mature into adulthood, their eyes change from their juvenile light brown coloration into a blood red. Despite reaching adulthood, Dragon has never gained the signature red eyes of her species. We suspect this is due to her vision loss.

Our male White-Tailed Kite, Phoenix, came to us in August 2025. He was brought into the hospital with permanent vision impairment on one side, likely caused by neurological damage from head trauma. As a male, he is smaller in size than Dragon. Otherwise, they look very similar!