Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.
North-eastern Mexico (Tamaulipas) south through Central America to South America, west of Andes south to western Ecuador, east of Andes south to Paraguay and northern Argentina.
 
Population
Estimated population is 500,000 - 4,999,999 (2010).
Plumbeous Kite (Ictinia plumbea) [XC604286]
by Bernabe Lopez-Lanus from Reserva do Setor S\u00edtio de Recreio Cara\u00edbas-Goi\u00e2nia, Goi\u00e1s, Brazil (song)
Plumbeous Kite (Ictinia plumbea) [XC97029]
by Thore Noernberg from Campo Verde, Tumbes, Peru (call)
Subspecies
Sometimes treated as conspecific with Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis), with which forms superspecies.