This raptor feeds mainly on freshwater snails. Its long, strongly curved bill fits inside the shell to pull out the animal.
It has broad wings, grey-to-black plumage, and a slender, strongly curved bill.
The Snail Kite feeds mainly on freshwater snails. At Cuba's Ramsar Great Wetland of Northern Ciego de Ávila, researchers measured 144 Pomacea shells left at feeding places used by a kite colony. They compared shell dimensions among feeding locations.
Mean external shell length was 39.2 mm and mean width was 35.9 mm. Shell aperture dimensions also differed among feeding places. The authors discussed monitoring these measurements as a possible indicator of habitat quality.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
At Cuba’s Ramsar Great Wetland of Northern Ciego de Ávila, researchers measured 144 Pomacea shells eaten by one Snail Kite colony in 2013. Mean shell length and width were 39.2 and 35.9 mm; mean opening dimensions were 25.4 and 21.1 mm. Shells differed in mean size among feeding places. The authors proposed monitoring these measurements as an indicator of wetland habitat quality.