Haliastur

The genus was erected by the English naturalist Prideaux John Selby in 1840 with brahminy kite (Haliastur indus) as the type species. The name of the genus combines the Ancient Greek hali- "sea-" and the Latin astur meaning "hawk".

Description

The two Haliastur species are medium-sized birds of prey with a strong, slightly squat rump, small head, relatively short and wide wings, a medium-long, rounded tail and short but strong legs and toes.

The Whistling kite reaches a body length of 50 to 60 centimeters and has a wingspan of 120 to 145 centimeters. Males weigh an average of 700 grams, the females are significantly heavier at 850 grams. The Brahminy kite is a little smaller. Its body length is 44–52 cm, of which 18–22 cm are accounted for by the tail. The span is 110–125 cm. There is no sexual dimorphism in either species, but the females are slightly larger than the males in both species.

The wedge tail has a sand-colored to brown plumage, which is partly dashed. Fledglings have only slightly different plumage than the adult birds. This is different with the Brahminy kite. In adult birds of this species, the head, neck, chest and upper abdomen are white with a more or less distinct, fine, dark longitudinal stripe. The back, upper wing coverts, the upper side of the arm wings, the upper side of the inner wing wing and the basal half of the outer wing wing, the small and middle under wing coverts, the lower abdomen and the leg fletching are dark rust-red. The young birds of this species are all in all almost monochrome, dark blackish gray-brown. The head, neck and the underside of the trunk are spotted and dashed lighter brown. They are thus similar to the adult wedge-tailed harriers and can be confused with one another when observing in the field