Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) Science Article 1
abstract
The coastal plain of Surinam the Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) is the most numerous hawk wherever freshwater marshes occur. The cultivation of rice, which inundates large areas during part of the year, has undoubtedly expanded its feeding grounds. When the rice is growing the birds concentrate along the many trenches in the fields. The raising of sugar cane, as it is grown in Surinam, has the same result because after a field has been cultivated for a number of years, it is burnt over, ploughed, and inundated.
F. HAVERSCHMIDT, The Auk 87(3):580-584