![]() ![]() Red Kite has long, narrow and flexible wings and a very long and deeply forked tail its active flight is one of the most graceful of all our raptors. Compared to a buzzard, flight is elegant and the movements slow and gentle, owing to the long wings and relatively low wing loading (the bird's weight in relation to its wing surface area). ![]() These are medium-sized raptors, differing from the well-known buzzard shape by their long wings and tails. Very few individuals tick all the boxes to be regarded as pure Black-eared Kites. Even most of the wintering birds as far east as Arabia and India show a mix of characters from migrans and lineatus and are thus best referred to as Eastern Black Kites. The Far Eastern subspecies lineatus has not yet been recorded in Europe, and all the look-alikes seen well enough have been Eastern Black Kites. This is also when these rather diagnostic-looking birds can be seen further west in Europe, often causing heated discussions about the possibility of Black-eared Kite. More recently, numbers of birds wintering in the Near East, for instance in Israel, have rocketed.Īs a rule of thumb most Black Kites have left Europe by the end of September, while the hybrid Eastern Black Kite, common in the Levant and the Middle East, is a later migrant and wintering numbers start to build up during late September and October. More easterly populations take the eastern fly-way through the Middle East, ending up in sub-Saharan East Africa. These birds winter in West Africa, with high numbers recorded in the Sahel, along the southern fringes of the Saharan desert. Black Kites, on the contrary, are strongly migratory.Įuropean birds start to leave from July-August, when thousands are counted in southern Spain crossing to Africa. Red Kite is largely resident over much of its range, but Scandinavian birds, immatures in particular, do leave their breeding grounds and move to southern Europe for the winter. The two African forms aegyptius and parasitus were until recently regarded as subspecies of Black Kite, but are now widely recognised as constituting a separate species, Yellow-billed Kite. In addition to these forms the Indian subcontinent has its own resident Black Kite subspecies, govinda, and in Australia and Indonesia the local subspecies is affinis. European birds are the nominate migrans, also called Western Black Kite, whereas Far Eastern birds from China and Japan are lineatus, known as Black-eared Kite, which is regarded by some as a full species.īetween Black and Black-eared Kites is a wide transition zone, from Russia to Mongolia and western China, where these two forms interbreed, resulting in a recognisable hybrid form: Eastern Black Kite. However, several Black Kite forms are found within the boundaries of the Western Palaearctic. Once you familiarise yourself with the juvenile and adult plumages of the species, that knowledge will apply to all birds anywhere in Europe. Red Kite looks the same across its entire range from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. Getting to grips with this variation is one of the keys to safely separating the two species. In Black Kite, however, both individual and geographical variation are extensive. Plumage-wise Red Kite is the less variable of the two, as there is little individual or geographical variation. In a wider context, Red Kite is a western, typically European species, while Black has a huge range extending across the entire Palaearctic region from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.Īlthough the two are quite different, misidentifications do occur. In Britain the former is an increasing resident, while Black is a rare visitor, mostly seen in spring and autumn. This bird is showing the typical upperparts of adult Red Kite, with a bright cinnamon and deeply forked tail, contrasting light head and dark upperwings, except for the distinctly marked rufous coverts (Dick Forsman).Įurope has two species of Milvus kites: Red Kite and Black Kite. Dick Forsman offers all the advice you need to confidently recognise these species in all plumages.Īdult Red Kite (Pyrenees, Spain, 1 November 2017). The outlying possibility of both Asian and African subspecies, plus hybrids, further complicates the picture. The very unfamiliarity of the latter means that it could be overlooked, especially with distant views. However, identification can be made trickier by the much rarer Black Kite. After almost having been lost in Britain, Red Kite is an increasingly familiar sight across the country – a real conservation success. ![]()
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