Black-winged Kites is a genus of bird of prey

Bird of prey

Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....

 in the elanid kite

Elanid kite

An elanid kite, sometimes white-tailed kite, is any of several small, long-winged, hovering raptors. All are specialist rodent hunters and most are members of the genus Elanus. Some authorities list the group as a formal subfamily, Elaninae...

 subfamily. It consists of four species.

• Black-winged Kite
  Black-winged Kite
  The Black-winged Kite is a small diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae best known for its habit of hovering over open grasslands in the manner of the much-smaller kestrels...
  
  , Elanus caeruleus
• Black-shouldered Kite
  Black-shouldered Kite
  The Black-shouldered Kite or Australian Black-shouldered Kite is a small raptor found in open habitat throughout Australia and resembles similar species found in Eurasia and North America, which have in the past also been named as Black-shouldered Kites...
  
  , Elanus axillaris
• White-tailed Kite
  White-tailed Kite
  The White-tailed Kite is an elanid kite of genus Elanus found in western North America and parts of South America.Their coloration is gull-like, but their shape and flight falcon-like, with a rounded tail...
  
  , Elanus leucurus
• Letter-winged Kite
  Letter-winged Kite
  The Letter-winged Kite is a small, rare and irruptive Australian raptor with a core range in central Australia. The adult is a small and graceful, predominantly pale grey and white, raptor with black shoulders and red eyes...
  
  , Elanus scriptus

The first three species above were considered conspecific as subspecies of the Black-shouldered Kite.

These are white and grey raptors of open country, with black shoulder markings and a short square tail. They hunt by slowly quartering the habitat for rodent

Rodent

Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....

s and other small mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

s, bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s and insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s, sometimes hovering like a kestrel

Kestrel

The name kestrel, is given to several different members of the falcon genus, Falco. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour which is to hover at a height of around over open country and swoop down on prey, usually small mammals, lizards or large insects...

.