These birds of prey with forked tails will move their tails to steer their bodies like a rudder on a boat.īahama Swallow Craig Nash, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (edited) Red kites are carnivores and feed on mice, voles, shrews, young hares, rabbits, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. They pair for life and during winter they might spend time apart or in communal roosts. Just like the swallow-tailed kites, the red kites also migrate during winter. They breed from Spain and Portugal east into central Europe and Ukraine, north to southern Sweden, Latvia, and the UK, and south to southern Italy. They are the largest species of kites and have pale grey heads and yellow beaks.ĭue to their split tail, red kites are very agile and can stay in the air for hours at a time. Swallow-tailed kites currently mostly inhabit seven southeastern states: Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.Ī red kite is a medium-sized bird of prey with a characteristically long and deeply forked tail that is red above and pale below. This bird once inhabited big parts of the southeastern United States – today they are mostly found in swamps, marshes, and large rivers in Florida. They are carnivores and feed on insects, frogs, anoles, and snakes.ĭuring the fall and winter, swallow-tailed kites are in South America at the beginning of spring, they arrive in Florida to breed. With its long wings, deeply forked tail, and bold black-and-white plumage, the swallow-tailed kite is very easy to recognize in flight.īecause of its V-shaped tail, the 18th-century English naturalist Mark Catesby named the bird “ Accipiter cauda furcata” (forked-tail hawk). This bird of prey has a bright-white head and underparts, while the wings, back, and tails are black. The swallow-tailed kite, also known as the American swallow-tailed kite, is a medium-sized broad-winged (pernine) species of raptors. Swallow-tailed Kite Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (edited) Let’s explore the 38 most interesting birds with forked tails so you can identify them next time you meet them in the wild. Small birds like the barn swallow, bank swallow, brown-capped Rosy-Finch, fork-tailed flycatcher prey birds like the swallow-tailed kite and the red kite and other birds like the Arctic tern, fork-tailed Storm-Petrel all have split tails. When it comes to the list of birds with forked tails, it is considerable. Although a deeply forked tail is aerodynamically efficient, such divided tails are more susceptible to damage because the outer feathers are not well supported by overlapping central feathers. The LID ratio is an indication of the aerodynamic efficiency of the bird.Īnd when it comes to the lift-to-drag ratio, a forked tail is always better. While the birds are flying, if the outer feathers are two times longer than the inner feathers, forked tails will give a high lift-to-drag ( LID) ratio. Some birds, like the Lyre-tailed nightjar, can have tails eight times longer than their bodies!įorked tails are important for birds because they help with aerial agility – the split tail shape makes the bird more agile when flying at high speeds.
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