The Snail Kite has a very distinctive hooked bill. The male, as in photo 1, looks almost all slaty black although it has white at the base of the tail which also has a white band near the tip (see photo 5). Its legs and cere are red-orange and the iris is red. This distinguishes the Snail Kite from the Slender-billed Kite (Rostrhamus hamatus) which has a pale yellow iris, no white on the tail and tends to be found in more swampy forested habitat.

Snail Kites feed almost exclusively on Apple Snails which they snatch from shallow water with their feet then fly to a perch where they extract the snail from its shell with their specially adapted bill.

See the Opus page on this species at Birdforum.