The Letter-winged kite (Elanus scriptus), is a species of small, rare and irruptive bird of prey with a core range in central Australia. The adult is a small and graceful, predominantly pale grey and white, bird with black shoulders and red eyes. It is similar in appearance to the black-shouldered kite except for a very distinctive black underwing pattern of a shallow ‘M’ shape, seen when in flight. Roosting during the day in well-foliaged trees and hunting at night, it is the world's only fully nocturnal Accipitriformes or Falconiformes raptor. Like all the elanid kites, it is a specialist predator of rodents, which it hunts by hovering in mid-air above grasslands and fields.