• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Near Threatened	D1
2016	Near Threatened	D1
2012	Near Threatened	D1
2008	Near Threatened	D1
2004	Near Threatened
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	nomadic	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type	Australia	Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	255,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	290,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	1000-2000, 1000-1500 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2020
Population trend	stable	medium	inferred	-
Generation length	4.7 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	100%	-	-	-

Population justification:

The population of Letter-winged Kites fluctuates greatly, potentially by more than an order of magnitude, between times when prey is abundant and times when it is scarce (Marchant and Higgins 1993, Aumann and Bellchambers 1999). The population size at maxima is largely unknown, but at minima (the driest times in the climatic cycle) is thought to approach 1,000 mature individuals (Pavey et al. 2021).

Trend justification: Population cycles appear to be linked to those of the principal prey, the plague rat Rattus villossimus, which has population explosions following high rainfall (Olsen 1995). These explosions in population and range rarely last for more than a year, after which the species's distribution again contracts (Garnett 1992). Reporting rates were highest when the arid zone had higher than average rainfall in 1999–2001 and 2011–2013, with numerous records from the eastern arid zone even in drier years suggesting that despite fluctuations, there has been no overall decline.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Australia	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Australia	Goyder Lagoon
Australia	Lake Sylvester System

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 1000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Agro-industry grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Climate change & severe weather	Habitat shifting & alteration	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects, Ecosystem degradation
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Felis catus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Vulpes vulpes	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

---

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Letter-winged Kite Elanus scriptus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/letter-winged-kite-elanus-scriptus on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.