Page 133 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

BIRDS OF PREY
Order Accipitriformes Family Accipitridae Species Milvus migrans
Black Kite

small pale
bowed wings head
dull and dark
pale spots overall
dull brown on back
wings with
pale diagonal
band above paler underside
and head

ADULT
IMMATURE
shallow fork in tail faintly barred,
triangular, earth-
IN FLIGHT brown tail, forked
when closed

FLIGHT: expert, soaring well but not high; direct
flight slow, with steady, deep beats; glides and circles
on depressed wings with tail often fanned.
ith all the elegance of the Red Kite, the Black Kite lacks the ADULT
Wcontrasted pattern and rich colours, although it is far from
uniform and far from black. Even more than a Red Kite it is likely long wings
to snatch food from the surface of water in a fast, sweeping dive,
using its feet to pick up the food and carry it as it feeds in mid-air.
Generally it is more numerous in areas
where both birds are found and more likely
to form small groups.
VOICE High, whinnying peeie-ee-i-ee-i-ee.
NESTING Nest of sticks, earth, and scraps
of all kinds in tree; 2–4 eggs; 1 brood;
March–June.
FEEDING Takes a lot of dead or dying fish
from water or along shoreline; much dead
meat and offal or scraps of all kinds; dung, SCAVENGER
small birds, reptiles, and voles. Black Kites join other birds of prey and crows at
REMARK Groups fight and chase each carcasses and rubbish tips, and also snatch scraps
other over rubbish tips. with their feet in fast, accurate swoops.
OCCURRENCE
SIMILAR SPECIES Widespread from Spain and
Portugal to Finland and south to
slimmer, MARSH HARRIER 2; Balkans; rare visitor to UK. Feeds
rakish build similar in flight;
pale see p.132 around rubbish tips and over open
rump flat wings bolder wing ground, wooded slopes, coasts,
pattern
and rivers; more often associated
longer tail with water than Red Kite and still
square no pale diagonal around towns in some places.
band on wing
tail
BOOTED EAGLE
dark form; RED KITE Seen in the UK
see p.128 see p.130 JF M A M J JA S ON D
Length 48–58cm (19–23in) Wingspan 1.3–1.55m (4 1 ⁄4 –5ft) Weight 650–1,100g (23–39oz)
Social Small flocks Lifespan Up to 20 years Status Vulnerable
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