Plumbeous Kite / Ictinia plumbea, Trinidad

I had hoped to slip these 15 really poor photos on to my photostream tonight, when hopefully no one would see them! Find it depressing to edit and post photos like these, so just needed to get it out of the way in one go. I still have all sorts of bird photos, of better quality, still to post, but will just add one every now and again, now that I have finished the morning trip on our last day on the island of Trinidad. Even if I didn't post any further images from this holiday, I feel that it is a completed project - and an exhausting, time-consuming one : ) I don't know how some people do this each year, when they go on some new "exotic" trip. It has taken me a year to get 737 (so far) photos posted from Trinidad & Tobago!

"The plumbeous kite breeds in the neotropic ecozone, from eastern Mexico to Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. It also breeds on Trinidad.

This is a bird of lowland forest and savannah, which builds a stick nest in a tree and lays 1-2 blue-white eggs. It is typically 33–38 cm (13–15 in) long and weighs 190–280 g (6.7–9.9 oz). It is not particularly gregarious, although it is often seen in flocks during migration.

The plumbeous kite has long, pointed wings. Adults are mainly slate-grey, with a paler head and underparts. The short black tail has 2-3 white bands. The eyes are red and the legs are orange. In flight, this kite shows a rufous primary patch.

The flight is slow, with frequent glides, and the prey is almost exclusively insects taken in the air. This kite often perches conspicuously on dead branches, with its long wings projecting well beyond the tail." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plumbeous_kite