RAPTOR & ACCIPITER 21/35 - Black Kite

 

The Black Kite (Milvus migrans) is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors. Unlike others of the group, they are opportunistic hunters and are more likely to scavenge. Their angled wing and distinctive forked tail make them easy to identify.

This kite is widely distributed through the temperate and tropical parts of Eurasia and parts of Australasia, with the temperate region populations tending to be migratory. Several subspecies are recognized and formerly with their own English names. The European populations are small, but the South Asian population is very large. In Malaysia it supposedly some natives whilst visitors do arrive here in the Peninsular. Mostly seen at coastal part and padi fields

This is a bird that is ubiquitous with nearly every part of the world except the Americas. The bird can be identified with its characteristic eagle-like look but its plumage is largely consistent with a single hue of brown. It will have a ribbed set of stripes present on the underside of its tail. The bird is not uncommon to urban areas where like other urban raptor species, they are famed for taking advantage of the thermal air currents that rise of urban structures like buildings. They are particularly adept at catching food on the wing and are known to be major hunters of pigeons and other smaller birds.

These birds are spread all over the world and in areas where they are native to the tropics like India and Africa do not migrate like variants that hail from colder parts of the world like Australia. In these regions, the birds will migrate away from the area during the winters. In the United Kingdom, the bird is only visible as a passing feature on its migratory path towards its native lands. These birds have quite interesting hunting habits and will soar high in the air and swoop down on their prey. They are especially attracted by instinct towards smoke that comes from the ground. This is because of an instinct that tells them that where this is smoke, there would be some kind of prey running away from a fire on the ground. This is quite different in an urban setting and the bird would not hesitate to swoop down on a human that could have some kind of food.

The variants of the bird include the European black kite, black-eared kite, pariah kite, fork-tailed kite, and the Taiwan kite. The black-eared kite is native to the regions of Persian and the Himalayas, the black-eared kite is a native of India, and the Pariah kite is a native of Sri Lanka and Malaysia. In the India subcontinent, the kite is known to follow the patterns of the monsoon and is a regular site before the onset of a major storm or the monsoon period in general. The bird is also of extreme importance to most airports because of the presence of prey near airports that ends up attracting the bird to runaways causing bird strikes.