Rufous-thighed Kite - BirdForum Opus

Harpagus diodon

Photo by Jamfaraco
Palhoça-SC, Brazil

Identification

29–35 cm (11½-13¾ in); shortish wings and a longish tail

• Slate-grey upperparts
• Pale-grey underparts
• Rufous thighs
• Rufous wing-linings

Similar Species

Photo by Xyko Paludo
Bocaiúva do Sul, PR, Brazil, November 2017

Double-toothed Kite is a big cause of misidentification.

Distribution

South America: from the Guianas south to eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, southern Brazil and northern Argentina.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species¹.

Habitat

Primary lowland rain forests.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet consists mostly of insects, particularly cicadas, small birds and lizards.

Movements

This seems to be a migrant breeding in austral summer in Atlantic Forest of Brazil as well as in eastern Bolivia (cerrado areas) and vacating the southernmost part of this range in austral winter which is spent in Amazonian areas.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Dec 2017)
3. Avibirds
4. Areta and Juhant writing in Ibis

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Rufous-thighed Kite. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 21 March 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Rufous-thighed_Kite

External Links

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