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Feeding

Apple snails are the nearly exclusive food of snail kites.

Snail kites typically capture their prey by flying low over the marsh looking for snails just below the water surface.

When a snail is spotted, the kite drops down to the water surface and plucks the snail from the water.

Apple snails have both a gill and a lung. When using their lung, they come near the surface of the water to breathe. It is when they are just below the water surface, that they are most vulnerable to being captured by kites. You can learn more about how apple snails breathe in the section on apple snails.

In some areas, where isolated trees are common, Snail Kites occasionally hunt from a perch. They will sit on a low perch until they see a snail near the surface.

They will then drop to the water surface, just as when hunting by flight, and pluck the snail from the water.

Once an apple snail is captured, kites return to a perch, where the edible part of snail is extracted from its shell.

This generally takes only a minute or two, after which the kite is ready to get another, or they may spend time preening or loafing.

On very rare occasions Snail Kites will take prey other than apple snails. This is most common during times when prey is scarce, such as during regional droughts.

Small turtles are the most common alternative prey, but Snail Kites in Florida have also been observed taking crayfish, snakes, and even fish. Interestingly, when turtles are captured, kites extract the flesh from only one leg hole, as if it were an apple snail.