Swallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus)

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The Swallow-tailed Kite is a master of the air, as graceful in the manner of its flight as in its appearance. The knife-blade wings carry it swiftly and buoyantly, with the deeply forked tail opening, closing and warping as it adjusts to the air flow. It feeds entirely in the air, either on flying insects or prey snatched from the ground, or from water or foliage. Insects are plucked out of the air with one foot and transferred to the bill. Lizards, snakes, pieces of wasp nest, and eggs or fledgling birds are taken from trees or grass. The bird never lands to consume its prey, and has been seen to seize a whole nest in passing, and to eat the contained fledglings one by one in flight.