Stellenbosch – just outside Cape Town South Africa

Black-shouldered Kite {Elanus axillaris}

A common, grey and white raptor with a black shoulder. The upperparts are bluish grey, with black wing coverts which appear as a distinctive, black shoulder patch. The underparts are white. There is a small black mask around the eye.

Young birds have a reddish-brown wash on the head and breast and the feathers of the upperparts are tipped white. The bill is short with a sharp, hooked tip to the upper mandible.

The bill is black, while the feet and legs, and the cere (skin at the base of the bill) are bright yellow. The eye is dark red in adult black-shouldered kites and brownish-orange in immature birds.