| White-collared Kite | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Genus: | Leptodon |
| Species: | L. forbesi |
| Binomial name | |
| Leptodon forbesi (Swann, 1922) |
|
| White-collared Kite range | |
The White-collared Kite, Leptodon forbesi, is a South American raptor. It breeds in north eastern Brazil.
The White-collared Kite is 50 cm in length. The adult has a grey head with white hindneck, black upperparts, white underparts, and a grey tail with a very broad, black subterminal band and whitish tip. It is very similar to the more southerly distributed Grey-headed Kite (L. cayanensis) and was often merged into it as a subspecies.
This species is classified as Critically Endangered. There have been very few sightings if it, and nothing is known of its feeding or breeding ecology. The areas in which it has been sighted, in coastal Alagoas and Pernambuco, has been subject to massive deforestation. The current population is estimated at some 50 pairs.
The binomial commemorates the British zoologist William Alexander Forbes.