White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus) [XC361486]
by JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA from Kissimmee Prairie Preserve, Okeechobee County, Florida, United States (mating vocalizations)
White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus) [XC307864]
by Bruce Lagerquist from Laguna Lake, San Luis Obispo County, California, United States (call)
Subspecies
Forms superspecies with Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus) and Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris), and all sometimes considered a single species, but morphology and behavioural differences support specific status.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
majusculus Bangs & Penard, TE, 1920 - Western and southern USA (from Oregon to central Florida, occasionally to South Carolina) and northern Mexico. Also most of Central America (race uncertain).
leucurus (Vieillot, 1818) - Panama, south through Amazonia to central Argentina (Mendoza and Buenos Aires) and central Chile (Valdivia).