Alice Springs Birds •

Alice Springs Birds > Alice Springs Birds Index

The Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus) has a striking call, and get their name from its loud whistling call that starts from a clear whistle, then descends down the scale, and is followed by an up-scale staccato chatter.

It is a medium-sized day time raptor it is often seen up in the skies above Alice Springs. The female are larger and heavier in build to the male.

Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus)
Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds, NT
Juvenile Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus)
Juvenile Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds, NT
Immature Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus)
Immature Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus), Alice Springs Sewage Ponds, NT
Juvenile Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus) by Dorothy Latimer
Juvenile Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus), Alice Springs NT

Check out our Birds section for more info on the Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus).


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Class: Aves
  • Order: Accipitriformes
  • Family: Accipitridae
  • Genus: Haliastur
  • Species: Haliastur sphenurus

Alice Springs BirdsAlice Springs Birds — Index Babblers Black-faced Cuckooshrike Brown Falcon Channel-billed Cuckoo Crested Pigeon Galah Magpie-lark Musk Duck Port Lincoln Ringneck Rainbow Bee-eater Sacred Kingfisher Sanderling Singing Honeyeater Southern Boobook Spinifex Pigeon Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Splendid Fairy-wren Spotted Dove Wedge-tailed Eagle Western Bowerbird Whistling Kite White-plumed Honeyeater Willie Wagtail Yellow-throated Miner

Alice Springs FaunaAlice Springs Native Bees Alice Springs Beetles Alice Springs Birds Alice Springs Gastropods (Gastropoda) Alice Springs Insects Alice Springs Marsupials Alice Springs Reptiles Alice Springs Spiders

Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Bougainvillea Apple Bush Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander