Photo of a male bird by Dominiek Plouvier, Suriname 1986 and
below it, one seen by Wouter Plouvier at Weg Naar Zee in December
2006. The white just above the tail is barely visible because of
the branch it is sitting on. Below the text a photo from above
made by Ribot in Nickerie (Corantijnpolder, 2006), where these
kites were plentiful. The young bird below it, was photographed
by Dennis Binda in 2008.
The male of the snail kite (length 36cm) is dark blue-grey with a
white rump, the female and the young are brown with
lighter-colored stripes below (see photo below).
The birds have a long curved bill to get snails out of their
shell. They catch the snails with their feet, flying low over
marshes and rice fields and diving when they spot a prey. They
eat the snails resting on a fixed place and leave the shells,
unbroken, lying around in large numbers on such places. The
poisons sprayed over rice fields to control the number of snails,
do affect these birds adversely.
To observe these birds of prey, Weg naar Zee is a good place to
go to. At sunset you can see them flying to their roost, where
they spend the night together in large numbers in palm trees. In
the morning they fly back to their own area, where they stay all
day. It is a social bird and it breeds in colonies in (deep
water) marshes. The nest is a platform made with twigs. Normally
it is build not to high above the ground in bushes or in small
trees.
The sound resembles that of a goat. There is a video of a snail kite picking up a
snail near Lelydorp made by Ribot.
Observations of the snail kite. They can assemble in large groups on their way to their roost. Haverschmidt (1953) saw a group of several hunderd birds together in Nickerie, I saw a group of at least 100 birds in Wageningen (1982). Below a young and a adult, both photographed by Dominique Plouvier in Suriname.
| Distribution in Suriname (explanation) | |
| Coastal area |  |
| Savanna |  |
| Forests | |
| Mountain forests | |
| Sipalawini savanna | |
Names in
More pictures of birds of prey from Surinam
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