Steppe kite. Black kite. Varieties and distinctive features

Squad - Predator birds

Family - Accipitridae

Genus/Species - Milvus milvus

Basic data:

DIMENSIONS

Length: male - 57-61 cm, female about 5% larger.

Wingspan: about 160 cm.

Weight: male - 800-1200 g, female - 980-1400 g.

REPRODUCTION

Puberty: from 3 years old.

Nesting period: from April.

Number of eggs: 1-4.

Incubation: 32 days.

Feeding: 48-54 days.

LIFESTYLE

Habits: Red kites live in pairs.

Food: birds, carrion, small mammals and fish.

Lifespan: The red kite usually lives 4-5 years, in nature it sometimes lives up to 26, and in captivity - up to 38 years.

RELATED SPECIES

The black kite (Milvus migrans) is replacing the red kite in some areas of Central Europe.

The red kite is considered one of the most beautiful predators. Thanks to its long wings, it soars in warm air currents and maintains balance with the help of its tail. About 5 thousand pairs breed in Central Europe, that is, half of the entire world population.

WHAT DOES IT EAT?

In many places, red kites stay close to large landfills, where they always find carrion. With the destruction of the natural habitats of these birds, they have to adapt to new conditions.

Nowadays, instead of their usual food - small mammals, invertebrates, reptiles and fish - birds have begun to eat the remains of human food and other waste. Sometimes red kites hunt large birds. In very harsh, especially cold winters, they eat dead and other forest animals. The kite is an excellent flyer and can soar in the air for hours without much effort. From a height of 20-30 m, the kite looks for prey. Noticing her, he immediately rushes down and grabs the victim with his sharp claws. During an attack, the red kite may not even touch the ground, but, having grabbed the prey, immediately fly into the sky. The kite has small and weak claws, so it feeds mainly on carrion. However, its claws are sharp enough to kill a small beast.

LIFESTYLE

The kite is a bird the size of , but it is slimmer and more elegant. Its upper plumage is brown and its head is whitish. The lower part of the body is light brown, with longitudinal stripes. In flight, the red kite is easily recognized by its narrow and slightly curved back wings, and by its long, forked tail. The undersides of the wings have large white spots that contrast with the black flight feathers. Up close you can see the light gray head with spots and a light stripe on the upper side of the wings. Male and female kites have the same coloration. The kite, which lives in Southern England and Southern Sweden, leads a sedentary lifestyle. Birds living in Central Europe are migratory. They winter in southern France, Spain and Portugal. At the end of February, red kites begin their journey back to their nesting sites. In winter, red kites form flocks. They fly out together in search of food and spend the night together.

REPRODUCTION

Mating of red kites occurs at the end of March or beginning of April. The mating flights of birds are complex. First, red kites circle over the nest, which is usually located on a tree that grows on the edge of the forest. Then the male and female lock their claws and quickly fall down. With their wings spread out, they do somersaults and somersaults in flight. Above the treetops, the birds gain altitude again, and the whole ritual is repeated from the beginning. These birds build the nest, which can be about 1 m in diameter, together. Most often it is located high in the crown of a tree. The eggs are incubated by the female, and the male only occasionally replaces her in the nest. The color of the chicks ranges from cream to light brown. Approximately 50 days after birth, the chicks leave the nest.

RED KITE AND MAN

The red kite breeds only in Europe and northwest Africa. The fate of the red kite has faced many trials. In the XVI-XVII centuries. he was an ordinary "scavenger". However, from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century, the red kite was almost completely exterminated by hunters and collectors of stuffed birds. Somewhat later it was destroyed in Scotland. In Great Britain, the red kite began to be protected in 1903. There are currently fewer than ten pairs of these birds left in Wales.

KITE OBSERVATIONS

The red kite mainly appears in open spaces: fields with groves or forest edges. In Central Europe, this bird of prey can be found in hilly areas, where fairly strong air currents form among the slopes, which lift the kite into the air and allow it to soar for a long time. This elegant bird builds nests in light old deciduous or mixed forests. It is less dependent on water than the black kite. During nesting, the red kite is easily spooked. Therefore, at this time, people should stick to certain forest paths so as not to frighten the birds that are building their nests. There is a very high probability that frightened red kites will abandon the clutch and never return to the nest. Ornithologists believe that today approximately 4,400 pairs of red kites nest in Germany, 300 pairs in Poland, and 200 pairs in Switzerland. There are almost no red kites left in Holland and Belgium.

• In the time of W. Shakespeare, red kites were the most common “scavenger” among all the birds that were found in London. There were so many of them in the city center that the kites attracted the attention of guests of the capital. The play "The Winter's Tale" tells how kites stole linen from the lines and used it to build nests.
• The red kite uses its ability to fly masterfully to steal prey from other birds (crows and). Occasionally he manages to rob other predators: buzzards, hawks and peregrine falcons. If a red kite encounters a predator carrying prey in its claws, it watches its every movement in the air and pursues it until it releases the prey. Having waited for this moment, the red kite very quickly grabs the prey and runs away with it.
• The last time the red kite was seen in London was in 1859.
• The red kite spends most of the day hovering low above the ground. During such a flight, he looks out for prey on the ground.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE RED KITE

Flight feathers: long, spaced like the fingers of a hand, which makes it easier to control soaring flight.

Wings: long, narrow and slightly curved back. The front edges of the wings are chestnut, with clear white spots visible on their undersides in front of the black tips of the flight feathers.

Eyes: The red kite has very good eyesight. It is almost eight times sharper than in humans.

Beak: curved and sharp. With its help, the bird tears apart both living prey and carrion.

Claws: small but very sharp.

Tail: long, with a deep notch, so the “fork” is clearly visible. Serves to maintain balance and as a rudder during flight.

Eggs: white with reddish-brown spots, most often 2-3 in one nest, but there may be 1 or 4.

WHERE DOES THE RED KITE LIVE?

It is found almost throughout Europe, primarily in France and Spain. In many areas of Southern Europe, the number of red kites has declined or the species has almost disappeared completely.

PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION

The number of red kites in Central Europe is quite stable. The species is in danger of extinction as it is being replaced in many places by the black kite. The red kite is listed in the Red Book.

The bird with the ominous name “black kite” is familiar to every village resident. Predators are also called “chickeners” for their manner of dragging feathered creatures from yards. To be fair, in villages many hawk-like birds are called kites, the sizes between a falcon and an eagle, which also do not miss the opportunity to feast on poultry.

Black kite in flight.

Black kite in the rays of the setting sun.

However, any ornithologist will definitely speak out in defense of black kites. They carry chicks to a lesser extent than the same goshawks, but they perform the honorable mission of conscientious scavengers, clearing landfills and garbage dumps of decaying organic matter. They also decorate their nests in the most intricate way and are of great interest from the point of view of every avifauna lover on the planet.

What does a black kite look like?

These predators belong to the order Accipiterae, the family Accipitridae and the genus of true kites. The genus includes only 2 species: black and red kites, which differ in plumage color and tail structure.

Like most hawks, female black kites are slightly larger than males. The height of adult individuals ranges from 48 to 60 cm with a body weight of 800-1100 g. Individual specimens weigh up to 1.5 kg.

The general appearance of the bird shows a light build and very long wings and tail relative to the body. The legs of the black kite are short; fluffy “pants” formed by long feathers are clearly visible on the legs up to the tarsus. The bird's head is small, narrow, the beak is like that of many hawks, high and sharp, strongly curved downwards, but weak.

The distinctive generic feature of the black kite is its forked tail, which is especially striking when the bird is sitting. However, the notch on the tail of the red kite is much deeper, and the birds can be easily distinguished by this feature. The wide wings of the black kite reach a length of 41-51 cm, with a wingspan of up to 155 cm.

The species of black kites forms 5 subspecies, of which Milvus migrans migrans, also called the European or Western kite, is considered the nominative. Most often, photographs of the black kite depict this particular subspecies, as the most widespread and most familiar.

Males and females of the black kite are colored the same. The main color of the plumage is predominantly brown or brown with a reddish tint. The birds' heads are always lighter and sometimes have an ashy coating. Longitudinal dark streaks are clearly visible throughout the body and head.

The eye color of the black kite ranges from light brown to yellowish brown. The beak is brown, the wax and non-feathered areas of the legs are bright yellow.

Another subspecies, the black-eared or eastern kite, found in Russia, differs from the nominate one in its larger size and dark “ear” feathers.

Black kite with prey.

Black kite.

Where does the black kite live?

Representatives of the type subspecies of the black kite are common and numerous throughout most of Europe, and are found in Asia as far as Pakistan.

The black-eared kite lives east of the Volga, in Siberia, Indochina to the southern regions of China.

In the east of Pakistan, in the tropical forests of India and the island of Sri Lanka, small Indian kites live.

Representatives of another subspecies, whose name translates as “fork-tailed kite,” live on the island of Sulawesi, Papua New Guinea and eastern Australia.

And the fifth subspecies - the Taiwanese kite, lives in the Chinese province of Hainan and on the island of Taiwan.

Inhabitants of European territory spend the winter in Africa; tropical subspecies of the black kite lead a sedentary lifestyle.

Throughout their vast range, birds choose similar biotopes: sparse forests near water sources - rivers, lakes or swamps. In such places you can take excellent photos of the black kite and hear its voice: high melodic trills “yurl-yurrrl”, and in case of alarm the often repeated “ki-vi-ki-ki”.

Predators avoid open landscapes; they also do not occur in dense forests. But near populated areas, these are familiar birds; black kites are often spotted in large cities, where predators have something to eat.

Black kite, Altai Republic, Ulagansky district, south of Lake Teletskoye.

Black kite.

Black kite.

Black kite.

What does the black kite eat?

Possessing weak legs and beaks, these birds belong to the so-called non-specialized gatherers. Therefore, the basis of the black kite’s diet is various types of carrion. In the floodplains of rivers, birds pick up large quantities of dead fish and often visit garbage dumps, city dumps and the vicinity of slaughterhouses, where they eat various wastes.

Live prey is present in the diet of predators to a lesser extent. Black kites catch small rodents, sometimes snakes and frogs, collect crayfish and mollusks in shallow water, catch worms and insects, and eat chicks and small birds.

During feeding, black kites are tolerant of their relatives; large concentrations of birds can be seen in city dumps, where they feed or soar high above the ground. When soaring, predators keep their wings in the same plane with their body, while the “fingers” are clearly visible - the tops of the flight feathers, strongly pronounced, but not spread out.

Black kites soar often and for a long time, sometimes they stage real aerial shows with somersaults and complex maneuvering. Their forked tail helps birds steer.

In Europe, the population density of predators is so high that in some places black kites are unable to establish themselves in their own area. Then the birds are forced to feed on foreign territories and nest in small groups of landless pairs.

Black kite.

Black kite.

Black kite in flight.

Black kite on a plowed field.

Black kite in flight.

Black kite in flight.

Black kite in flight.

Black kite in flight.

Black kite on a branch.

Peculiarities of reproduction of the black kite

The arrival of predators to nesting sites occurs early, when the snow just begins to melt. Most black kite nests are located high in the treetops, in Asia often right on the rocks.

The pair looks for building material for the nest in the same place where it feeds - in landfills and garbage dumps. These are rags and other garbage, dry manure, sometimes grass and young shoots of trees. The manner of black kites decorating their nests is interesting, thereby demonstrating their superiority to their relatives. The brighter the nest looks, the stronger its owners. The nests of the most powerful black kites are usually decorated with scraps of plastic bags. Weak pairs do not decorate the nest at all.

Females lay 2 to 4 white eggs with brown speckles and spots. It is mainly females who incubate, with males sometimes replacing them. During the period of feeding their offspring, black kites are very careful, often aggressive towards their neighbors.

In the first downy plumage, the chicks look reddish-brown, then become grayish-ashy. 45 days after birth, the offspring leaves their parents. By autumn, young birds are distinguished from adults by numerous light streaks on the belly, light edges on the wings and the gray-yellow color of the paws and cere.

Black kites fly away for the winter from late August to October, forming impressive flocks of up to hundreds of birds of different ages during their migrations.

The kite is a rather large and predatory bird. It lives mainly in the Old World. A weak and hook-shaped beak is the main difference between these birds and others. In addition, they have very short legs, but rather large and very long wings.

From the life of kites

The kite bird (photo No. 1) is not a golden eagle! He's not that majestic! Kites are clumsy, lazy, and also not very brave birds. Their flight is quite slow, but tireless! They gain enormous heights, even the keenest eye cannot see them! At the same time, the kite is a quite smart bird! It is not the slightest difficulty for them to distinguish an ordinary person from a game hunter. In addition, kites avoid places where they are frightened.

Their daily diet consists of small mammals, snakes and lizards, frogs and insects. Very rarely they are forced to conduct their own bird hunt. Their nesting sites are in the treetops. Kites line their nests with dirty rags, scraps of paper and other debris. The clutch consists of 3-4 eggs. The female incubates them. The eggs are white with a brown pattern. Incubation lasts about five and a half weeks. As a rule, one or a pair of chicks fly out of the nest. The kite is mainly a migratory bird, but sometimes there are sedentary populations.

"Orphans" of the fishing industry

Kites are a kind of orderlies in the fishing and hunting fields. It has already been proven that the benefits that these birds bring significantly exceed the harm that they can cause by eating small birds and chicks from the brood of field and meadow game.

These predators are not very numerous in terms of species diversity. Zoologists count only 8 species of these birds. Perhaps the most famous is the red kite, which lives in the territory from the Far East to Spain! Let's talk about him.

Red kite

This species of feathered predator can be easily distinguished from all others by its strongly forked tail. Outwardly, it (the tail) resembles a two-pronged fork, which is why some zoologists call it fork-shaped. The red kite is a very bright bird! Its head and throat are painted snow-white with black-brown stripes, its chest is red (“rusty”), and its abdomen is the same. The shoulders and back are brown-black, and the flight wings are black. Red predators feed on carrion, dead reptiles, small mammals and invertebrates.

This type of kite is quite easy to tame. It is interesting that the caught red cunning fish pretends to be dead for the first time. He lies there until he realizes that all his attempts to deceive the hunters are in vain!

Kites (Milvinae) are birds belonging to the order Accipitridae and the family Accipitridae. In different countries, representatives of this subfamily are called korshaks and shuliks, as well as korkuns.

Description of the kite

Kites are birds of prey, beautiful and tireless in flight, capable of soaring in the vastness of the sky without flapping their wings for a quarter of an hour. Such birds rise to a considerable height, making it very difficult to distinguish them in the sky with the naked eye. By its nature, the feathered predator is quite lazy and slow.

Appearance

The large bird of prey reaches a height of half a meter, with an average weight of an adult within one kilogram. The wings are long and narrow, with a span of up to one and a half meters. The kite is characterized by a hook-shaped beak and short legs. The plumage of a kite can have a wide variety of colors, but brown and dark tones are predominant.

Character and lifestyle

Kites are migratory birds, but some groups are characterized by an exclusively sedentary lifestyle. Flights are made by entire flocks consisting of several dozen individuals, which is considered to be a rather rare occurrence among feathered predators. For wintering, the territories of warm African and Asian countries, characterized by tropical climatic conditions, are used.

Kites are clumsy and rather lazy birds, and by their nature they are not distinguished by excessive majesty or extreme courage. Inhabited territories are used by birds for hunting and building nests, but such feathered predators are accustomed to waging a tough struggle for their existence. Many adult individuals are forced to look for food for themselves and their offspring in distant, foreign territories, and also actively defend their inhabited areas.

This is interesting! The stronger and larger the bird, the more brightly the nest is decorated, but weak feathered predators do not decorate their nests at all.

Often an adult kite decorates its own nest with very bright and catchy rags or plastic bags, as well as shiny and quite rustling garbage, which allows the bird not only to mark its personal territory, but also to scare away neighbors, preventing their attack.

How long do kites live?

The average lifespan of a bird of prey, even under optimal conditions, usually does not exceed a quarter of a century.

Types of kite

The relatively numerous subfamily of Kites is represented by seven genera and approximately fourteen species:

• Brahmin kite (Haliastur indus) is a medium-sized bird of prey. Adults have reddish-brown main plumage and a white head and chest;
• Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus) is a medium-sized diurnal predator. The adult bird has a pale, dark yellow head, chest and tail, as well as brown wings and black flight feathers;
• Black kite (Milvus migrans) is a bird predator of the hawk family. The color of adult birds is characterized by a dark brown back, a whitish crown with the presence of blackish shaft markings, dark brown primary flight feathers, a brownish ventral side with a reddish tint. This species includes subspecies: European kite (Milvus migrans migrans), Black-eared kite ( Milvus migrans lineatus), Lesser Indian kite (Milvus migrans govinda) and Taiwanese kite (Milvus migrans formosanus);
• Red kite (Milvus milvus) is a medium-sized bird of prey. The head and neck area are pale gray. The plumage on the body, in the upper tail part and on all coverts is of a reddish-brown hue, with dark longitudinal markings on the chest;
• Slug kite or social slug kite (Rostrhamus sosiabilis) is a feathered predator, classified as a separate genus and characterized by pronounced dimorphism. Males have jet-black plumage, a bluish tail with a wide black stripe. Paws and eyes are red. Females are brown in color with brownish streaks. A characteristic feature of the species is the special shape of its thin beak, which has an elongated and noticeably curved beak.

Also included in the subfamily of Kites are the species represented by the Black-breasted Buzzard Kite (Hamirostra melanosternon), the Two-Toothed Kite (Harpagus bidentatus), the Rufous-sided Two-toothed Kite (Harpagus diodon), the Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis), and the Gray Kite (Ictinia p lumbea), as well as the Chubby Kite ( Lohoistinia isura).

Range, habitats

Brahminy kites are found in the Indian subcontinent, as well as in Southeast Asia and Australia. The whistling kite is a woodland bird that prefers to settle near water. Slug-eating kites live primarily in swamps, where they live in groups of six to ten pairs. Sometimes in a colony the number of individuals reaches hundreds of pairs.

The black kite is distributed throughout Africa, with the exception of the Sahara, as well as in Madagascar, temperate and southern regions of Asia. Birds of this species can even be found on some islands, in Russia and in Ukraine. In the Palearctic, black kites are migratory birds, but in other areas of the nesting area they belong to the category of sedentary birds.

European kites breed in central, eastern and southern Europe, and winter exclusively in Africa. Black-eared kites are found mainly in Siberia, and the habitat of the Lesser Indian kite is represented by eastern Pakistan, tropical India and Sri Lanka to the Malay Peninsula.

Kite diet

Birds of prey, living mainly in marshy areas and near the coast, are most often scavengers, but prefer fish and crabs. From time to time, such representatives of the subfamily can catch hares, and also take prey from some other small birds of prey. Sometimes they eat honey and destroy the hives of dwarf honey bees.

Whistling kites eat almost everything they can catch, including fairly small mammals, fish and birds, amphibians and reptiles, as well as all kinds of insects and crustaceans, but they do not disdain carrion. The only food ration of an adult slug-eating kite is mollusks, the diameter of which is 30-40 mm.

This is interesting! The slug-eating kite catches its prey in the early morning hours or in the evening. The bird removes snails from the shell using its long and curved beak.

Despite its rather large size, the red kite is not very aggressive, and is also less strong and hardy than many other feathered predators, including buzzards. During the hunt, the bird hovers at a low altitude and looks out for small game. Having noticed its prey, the predator falls down like a stone, after which it grabs the prey with sharp claws. The objects of hunting are most often small mammals and birds, amphibians and reptiles, as well as earthworms. Carrion, especially the remains of sheep, is sometimes used as food.

Kites are medium-sized birds of prey, masters of soaring flight. There are 10 types of them. In flight, it is easy to distinguish between the red kite and its close relative the black kite (M. migrans). Both have a forked tail, but the red kite has a very deep neckline. The black kite has a slightly marked neckline, and the wings do not have the light margins that the red kite has.

Appearance

Black kite. The plumage is predominantly dark, brown-brown in color, the underside is slightly lighter, has a reddish tint and longitudinal dark brown spots. The top of the head is much lighter than the back. The tail fork is almost invisible. Young birds are covered with large buffy spots.

Red kite. Slightly larger and lighter in plumage than the black kite. The upper part of the body is brown, the lower part is bright red with longitudinal dark spots. The tail is brown with a transition to red. The “fork” of the tail is deeply carved and clearly visible.

Distribution, habitats and lifestyle

Nutrition

Kite. Photo

Kite head. Photo: Lies Van Rompaey

Photo of a kite in flight. Photo: David Merrett

Kite nesting

To build a nest, the kite needs tall trees and water, the inhabitants of which are of great importance in the nutrition of the chicks. Therefore, it especially readily nests in floodplains of rivers, near lakes and water meadows. It often nests on the outskirts of villages, often occupying the nests of crows or buzzards.
The nest is most often made on pine trees, sometimes spruce trees, almost always at the very trunk at the base of the branches, at a height of 8-20 m (on average 10 m) from the ground.
The material for building the nest is dry twigs. The tray is filled with earth and manure, as a result of which it becomes flat or even convex. In the bedding, consisting of wool, dry grass and pieces of paper, there are always rags and remnants of decomposing food, which emit an unpleasant odor.
The diameter of the nest is 400-1000 mm, more often 400-700 mm, the height of the nest is 300-400 mm, the diameter of the tray is 250-350 mm.
A clutch of 2-4 white eggs with brown spots and dashes. Egg dimensions: (49-60) x (39-47) mm.

Video: kite
Duration 2:41