White-tailed Kite

Description:

White bird with black shoulders and wingtips. The tail is rounded and elongated. This one was resting and cleaning itself before taking off as seen in the last image. They're often seen hovering high above its prey before diving down.

Habitat:

Dead tree at Lake Hodges. "The White-tailed Kite was rendered almost extinct in California in the 1930s and 1940s by shooting and egg-collecting, but they are now common again. Their distribution is patchy, however – they can be seen in the Central Valley and southern coastal areas, open land around Goleta including the Ellwood Mesa Open Space, and also around the San Francisco Bay, but elsewhere they are still rare or absent. They are also found in southern Texas, on the Baja California peninsula, and in eastern Mexico." - Wikipedia