Bird

White-tailed Kite

Elanus leucurus

Lives in Florida all year and nests here. Found in 9 of 67 counties, across 10 habitats.

Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: 9 of 67 counties
Habitats: 10

Male White-tailed Kite, whole bird — **Male**. (c) Aitor, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 4.0. iNaturalist photo 107582427. Source-provided large resize; no crop or image edits.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: All year
Nesting: Nests here
Range: 9 of 67 counties
Habitats: 10
Habitat models: Year-round

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in Florida 10

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 10

Year-roundDisturbed/Successional - Shrub Regeneration; Successional Shrub/Scrub (Other); Harvested Forest - Shrub RegenerationNamed place / source context. Shown: Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Georgia and Tennessee; which part is not recorded, a neighboring state.Wooded scene looking out over partially open fields, Richard Schlecht, undated. Public domain. Source record.

Year-roundSouth Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh; Floridian Highlands Freshwater MarshRegional / representative. Shown: Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia; representative pond ecosystem, a neighboring state.Georgia pond and emergent wetland, Robert 'Bob' Hynes, 1997. Public domain. Source record.

Year-roundFlorida Dry PrairieLimestone prairie. Shown: Grand Prairie, Coosa Valley Prairies, Floyd County, Georgia, a neighboring state.Grand Prairie, Coosa Valley Prairies, Floyd County, Alan M. Cressler / U.S. Geological Survey, undated. Public domain. Source record.

Year-roundSouth Florida Bayhead SwampRegional / representative. Shown: Southern coastal swamps, Florida to Virginia; state not identified, a neighboring state.Loblolly bay in a coastal swamp, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal dunes and beaches

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.

Year-roundSouthwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland

Depression ponds and limesinks

Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.

Year-roundCentral Florida Herbaceous Pondshore

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.

Year-round

Pine flatwoods

Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.

Year-roundSouth Florida Pine Flatwoods; Central Florida Pine Flatwoods

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

Year-roundCultivated Cropland; Pasture/Hay; Utility Swath - Herbaceous; Ruderal Upland - Old Field

Sandhills

Dry, deep-sand ridges with longleaf pine and turkey oak, kept open by fire.

Year-roundFlorida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Open Understory Modifier

Other habitats in its models (99)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Florida.

Orchards Vineyards and Other High Structure Agriculture Year-round.
Barren Land Year-round.
Mediterranean California Southern Coastal Dune Year-round.
Mediterranean California Northern Coastal Dune Year-round.
North Pacific Maritime Coastal Sand Dune and Strand Year-round.
Temperate Pacific Intertidal Mudflat Year-round.
Temperate Pacific Freshwater Mudflat Year-round.
Mediterranean California Serpentine Barrens Year-round.
North Pacific Oak Woodland Year-round.
Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round.
Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Year-round.
East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Year-round.
East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
East-Central Texas Plains Floodplain Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Mediterranean California Mixed Oak Woodland Year-round.
Lower Mississippi River Dune Woodland and Forest Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Western Great Plains Dry Bur Oak Forest and Woodland Year-round.
Mediterranean California Lower Montane Black Oak-Conifer Forest and Woodland Year-round.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Sandhill Oak and Shortleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round.
North Pacific Lowland Mixed Hardwood-Conifer Forest and Woodland Year-round.
Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Year-round.
Klamath-Siskiyou Lower Montane Serpentine Mixed Conifer Woodland Year-round.
Klamath-Siskiyou Upper Montane Serpentine Mixed Conifer Woodland Year-round.
Mediterranean California Dry-Mesic Mixed Conifer Forest and Woodland Year-round.
Mediterranean California Subalpine Woodland Year-round.
North Pacific Maritime Dry-Mesic Douglas-fir-Western Hemlock Forest Year-round.
Northern Rocky Mountain Dry-Mesic Montane Mixed Conifer Forest Year-round.
East-Central Texas Plains Pine Forest and Woodland Year-round.
Mediterranean California Mesic Mixed Conifer Forest and Woodland Year-round.
North Pacific Maritime Mesic-Wet Douglas-fir-Western Hemlock Forest Year-round.
Northern California Mesic Subalpine Woodland Year-round.
Apacherian-Chihuahuan Semi-Desert Grassland and Steppe Year-round.
Chihuahuan Gypsophilous Grassland and Steppe Year-round.
Columbia Plateau Steppe and Grassland Year-round.
California Central Valley Mixed Oak Savanna Year-round.
California Coastal Live Oak Woodland and Savanna Year-round.
California Lower Montane Blue Oak-Foothill Pine Woodland and Savanna Year-round.
Southern California Oak Woodland and Savanna Year-round.
Willamette Valley Upland Prairie and Savanna Year-round.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Catahoula Barrens Year-round.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Nepheline Syenite Glade Year-round.
Klamath-Siskiyou Xeromorphic Serpentine Savanna and Chaparral Year-round.
Chihuahuan Sandy Plains Semi-Desert Grassland Year-round.
Columbia Basin Palouse Prairie Year-round.
Southeastern Great Plains Tallgrass Prairie Year-round.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Year-round.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Year-round.
Tamaulipan Savanna Grassland Year-round.
Tamaulipan Clay Grassland Year-round.
South Texas Sand Sheet Grassland Year-round.
Chihuahuan Loamy Plains Desert Grassland Year-round.
California Northern Coastal Grassland Year-round.
Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Year-round.
South Texas Dune and Coastal Grassland Year-round.
Recently Logged Areas Year-round.
Recently Burned Year-round.
Recently Burned Forest Year-round.
Recently Burned Grassland Year-round.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Year-round.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Year-round.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Year-round.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Year-round.
North Pacific Maritime Eelgrass Bed Year-round.
Temperate Pacific Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Year-round.
North Pacific Shrub Swamp Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Temperate Pacific Freshwater Aquatic Bed Year-round.
North Pacific Intertidal Freshwater Wetland Year-round.
North American Arid West Emergent Marsh Year-round.
Temperate Pacific Freshwater Emergent Marsh Year-round.
Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Year-round.
South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Year-round.
Northern Pacific Mesic Subalpine Woodland Year-round.
North Pacific Bog and Fen Year-round.
Mediterranean California Subalpine-Montane Fen Year-round.
Mediterranean California Serpentine Fen Year-round.
South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Year-round.
Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Year-round.
Willamette Valley Wet Prairie Year-round.
Temperate Pacific Montane Wet Meadow Year-round.
Chihuahuan-Sonoran Desert Bottomland and Swale Grassland Year-round.
Columbia Plateau Vernal Pool Year-round.
South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Year-round.
California Central Valley Riparian Woodland and Shrubland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
North Pacific Lowland Riparian Forest and Shrubland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
North Pacific Montane Riparian Woodland and Shrubland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Tamaulipan Floodplain Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Tamaulipan Riparian Systems Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Northwestern Great Plains Floodplain Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Columbia Basin Foothill Riparian Woodland and Shrubland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
North American Warm Desert Lower Montane Riparian Woodland and Shrubland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
North American Warm Desert Riparian Woodland and Shrubland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Mediterranean California Serpentine Foothill and Lower Montane Riparian Woodland and Seep Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Northwestern Great Plains Riparian Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Mediterranean California Foothill and Lower Montane Riparian Woodland Year-round, beside its main habitat.
Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Year-round.
Inter-Mountain Basins Montane Riparian Systems Year-round, beside its main habitat.
North American Warm Desert Riparian Systems Year-round, beside its main habitat.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Flatwoods Year-round.