Alice Springs Desert Park
ASDP BirdsAustralian Boobook Owl Australian Bustard Australian Hobby Banded Lapwing Barn Owl Black Kite Black-breasted Buzzard Black-faced Woodswallow Black-fronted Dotterel Bourke’s Parrot Brown Falcon Emu Inland Dotterel Orange Chat Pied Honeyeater Princess Parrot Rainbow Bee-eater Red-capped Robin Spinifex Pigeon Splendid Fairy-wren Tawny Frogmouth Wedge-tailed Eagle Western Bowerbird Whistling Kite White-faced Heron White-winged Fairywren
Alice Springs Desert ParkFauna Flora Nature Theatre Nocturnal House
The Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus) is a medium size bird that can be found across Australia, especially open woodlands and plains. In arid regions of central Australia they are seen around desert woodlands and along desert rivers.
They prey on small mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, fish, crustaceans and insects. They are also commonly seen scavenging on roadkill.
They have a light brown head and belly, including features that are a mix of dark and pale brown, with rufous markings on the head, neck and underparts. They have a long rounded tail and when at rest can appear to have a scruffy appearance. The underwings have a characteristic pale ‘M’ shape when open. At a distance they can appear appear almost black.
Images © Dorothy L
Also known as the whistling eagle, whistling hawk, kite hawk and chicken hawk, they get their name from its loud whistling call that starts from a clear whistle, that begin by descending down the scale, and followed by an up-scale staccato chatter.
The females are slightly larger than males with a wing span of up to 120 cm. Breeding season is between February and May. They build their nests in tall eucalypt trees, laying clutches from one to four eggs. Incubated for approximately 35 days, they care for the chick until the young can fly.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves
- Order: Accipitriformes
- Family: Accipitridae
- Genus: Haliastur
- Species: Haliastur sphenurus
Footnote & References
- Whistling Kite, Northern Territory Government of Australia, https://nt.gov.au/environment/animals/wildlife-in-nt/whistling-kite
- Whistling Kite, eBird, https://ebird.org/species/whikit1?siteLanguage=en_AU
- Black Kite (Milvus migrans), Society for the Preservation of Raptors (Inc), http://www.raptor.org.au/mmigrans.html
ASDP BirdsAustralian Boobook Owl Australian Bustard Australian Hobby Banded Lapwing Barn Owl Black Kite Black-breasted Buzzard Black-faced Woodswallow Black-fronted Dotterel Bourke’s Parrot Brown Falcon Emu Inland Dotterel Orange Chat Pied Honeyeater Princess Parrot Rainbow Bee-eater Red-capped Robin Spinifex Pigeon Splendid Fairy-wren Tawny Frogmouth Wedge-tailed Eagle Western Bowerbird Whistling Kite White-faced Heron White-winged Fairywren
ASDP FaunaASDP Arachnida ASDP Birds ASDP Insects ASDP Reptiles Dingo Ghost Bat Greater Bilby Numbat Red Kangaroo Short-beaked Echidna Spinifex Hopping Mouse Thorny Devil Western Quoll
Alice Springs Desert ParkFauna Flora Nature Theatre Nocturnal House