Square-tailed Kite - profile

Scientific name: Lophoictinia isura 
 Conservation status in NSW: Vulnerable

Description

The Square-tailed Kite is a reddish, medium-sized, long-winged raptor, about the size of a Little Eagle or harrier. Adults have a white face with thick black streaks on the crown and finer streaks elsewhere. The saddle, rump and central upper tail coverts are blackish with grey-brown barring. The underparts are predominantly grey-brown with black tips on the grey, square-tipped tail and wing edges. A key character in flight is the long fingered, upswept wings with a large white patch at the base of the barred ‘fingers’.

Location and habitat

Distribution
 The Square-tailed Kite ranges along coastal and subcoastal areas from south-western to northern Australia, Queensland, NSW and Victoria. In NSW, scattered records of the species throughout the state indicate that the species is a regular resident in the north, north-east and along the major west-flowing river systems. It is a summer breeding migrant to the south-east, including the NSW south coast, arriving in September and leaving by March.

• Found in a variety of timbered habitats including dry woodlands and open forests. Shows a particular preference for timbered watercourses.
• In arid north-western NSW, has been observed in stony country with a ground cover of chenopods and grasses, open acacia scrub and patches of low open eucalypt woodland.
• Is a specialist hunter of passerines, especially honeyeaters, and most particularly nestlings, and insects in the tree canopy, picking most prey items from the outer foliage.
• Appears to occupy large hunting ranges of more than 100km2.
• Breeding is from July to February, with nest sites generally located along or near watercourses, in a fork or on large horizontal limbs.

Regional information
This species is found in the following catchment management authority regions. Click on a region name to see more details about the distribution, vegetation types and habitat preference of the species in that region.

• Border Rivers/Gwydir
• Central West
• Hawkesbury/Nepean
• Hunter/Central Rivers
• Lachlan
• Lower Murray/Darling
• Murray
• Murrumbidgee
• Namoi
• Northern Rivers
• Southern Rivers
• Sydney Metro
• Western

Threats

• Clearing, logging, burning, and grazing of habitats resulting in a reduction in nesting and feeding resources.
• Disturbance to or removal of potential nest trees near watercourses.
• Illegal egg collection and shooting.

Recovery strategies

Priority actions are the specific, practical things that must be done to recover a threatened species, population or ecological community. The Department of Environment and Conservation has identified 3 priority actions to help recover the Square-tailed Kite in New South Wales.

What needs to be done to recover this species?

• Protect known habitat from fires of a frequency greater than that recommended for the retention of biodiversity.
• Retain and protect nesting and foraging habitat, particularly along watercourses.
• Report suspected illegal bird shooting and egg-collecting to DEC.

References

• Marchant, S. and Higgins, P.J. (eds.) (1993) Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Volume 2: Raptors to Lapwings. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
• Olsen, P. (1995) Australian Birds of Prey. UNSW Press, Sydney.
• Pizzey, G. and Knight, F. (2003) The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia 7th Edition. Menkhorst, P. (ed). HarperCollins.
• Robinson, D. and Traill, B.J. (1996) Conserving woodland birds in the wheat and sheep belts of southern Australia. RAOU Conservation Statement No. 10. Birds Australia, Melbourne.