Hook-billed Kite Similar Species Comparison
Main SpeciesHook-billed Kite
Male (Hook-billed)
Medium-sized raptor with very broad, rounded wings. Note checkered pattern on flight feathers and broad bands in the tail. Males have gray underparts.
© Marvin Pfeiffer / Macaulay LibraryTexas, February 08, 2020Female (Hook-billed)
Note very broad, rounded "paddle-shaped" wings and long tail with prominent, broad bands. Females are reddish brown on the neck continuing into barring on the breast and belly.
© fernando Burgalin Sequeria / Macaulay LibraryAlajuela, March 27, 2020Immature (Hook-billed)
Medium-sized raptor with broad wings and long, banded tail. Note heavy bill with pronounced hook. Immatures are creamy white below with blackish barring.
© Jorge Eduardo Ruano / Macaulay LibraryToledo, November 23, 2018Male (Hook-billed)
Medium-sized raptor with heavy, strongly hooked bill and banded tail. Adults have yellow eyes. Males are gray below with thin white bars.
© Christoph Moning / Macaulay LibraryPichincha, August 23, 2019Male (Hook-billed)
Rare dark morphs are deep brown-black all over with yellow patch before the eye and broad bands in the tail.
© Gabriel Cordón / Macaulay LibraryZacapa, February 09, 2020Female (Hook-billed)
Note pale eye (adults) and heavy, strongly hooked bill. Females are reddish brown on the neck, continuing into barring on the breast and belly.
© Yolanda Luna / Macaulay LibraryCarchi, January 12, 2019Female (Hook-billed)
Often seen in lowlands along wooded streams and rivers (including rarely in South Texas), but in Andes can occur in cloud forest above 10,000 feet elevation.
© Graham Montgomery / Macaulay LibraryPichincha, January 04, 2017Female (Hook-billed)
Medium-sized raptor with long, strongly banded tail, pale eye (adults) and strongly hooked bill. Females have an orange-brown collar.
© Ryan Shaw / Macaulay LibraryCartago, February 19, 2019Immature (Hook-billed)
Immature has dark eye and creamy white underparts barred with blackish. Note heavy, hooked bill and banded tail.
© Zandro Armas Moreno / Macaulay LibraryPichincha, April 14, 2018Female (Grenada)
The form that lives on Grenada is slightly smaller, with a smaller bill and greenish eyes. Females have rufous-brown barring and collar.
© Knut Hansen / Macaulay LibrarySaint David, January 17, 2018Similar SpeciesSnail Kite
Snail Kites are more uniformly dark than Hook-billed Kites, lacking pale barring in the flight feathers and with only one band in the tail.
© Ian Routley / Macaulay LibraryQuintana Roo, February 21, 2018Similar SpeciesCooper's Hawk
Adult
Cooper's Hawk wings are less broad and less rounded at the tips than Hook-billed Kite's. Compared with female Hook-billed Kite, adult Cooper's Hawks have smaller bills, narrower barring on the breast, and lack an orange-reddish collar.
© Alex Lamoreaux / Macaulay LibraryMinnesota, October 10, 2016Rotate Your Device to Better Compare
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