swallow-tailed kite
- noun
- /ˈswɒloʊˌteɪld kaɪt/
- US
:
milano de cola de golondrina
- Birdwatchers flock to the wetlands in spring to catch a glimpse of the swallow-tailed kite in its natural habitat.
Examples
-
But then up it swooped again, and yes, the long split tail, the black mask of the swallow-tailed kite, a bird he'd never seen before though it nested secretly in the deep swamp of the National Forest fifteen miles north.
Fiction book (1991) -
The swallow-tailed kite soared gracefully above the trees, showcasing its distinctive forked tail.
-
We spotted a swallow-tailed kite gliding through the sky, its black-and-white plumage shining in the sunlight.
Synonyms
A graceful black-and-white bird with a long forked tail
A large North American hunting bird with black and white feathers and a deeply forked tail
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'swallow-tailed' means 'having a tail like a swallow' and combined with 'kite' gives 'a kite with a swallow-like tail.' This is a literal descriptive adjective+noun pattern describing a visible physical feature, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Swallow-tailed kite: The name swallow-tailed kite comes from the bird's long, forked tail that looks like the tail of a small bird called a swallow, and the word kite, which names a bird that hunts. So the name tells you it is a 'bird of prey' with a swallow-like tail.
