Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
The Black Kite has a strong claim to be the most numerous and successful bird of prey in the world, and the secret to its success is simple – it lives on the coat-tails of Man. In many parts of Africa and Asia it is the commonest town scavenger, the one that frequents roadside rubbish tips and shanty-towns, the one that robs market stalls and steals scraps from the hands of unsuspecting human beings, and the one that circles over docks waiting to pounce down on dead and dying fish. For those that can prosper amidst a high density of humans there are very rich pickings to be had, and the Black Kite has embraced these opportunities to the full. It occurs almost throughout the Old World, and its ubiquity extends even to outposts such as the continent of Australia and the large, isolated island of Madagascar.
By Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom – Black Kite (Milvus migrans), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63587164
In Europe, with its relative cleanness and more suspect climate, the Black Kite is less abundant than in the fleshpots of the tropics. Here it is only a seasonal visitor, arriving in the first week of April and leaving in the month of August. Nevertheless, it still encompasses a wide range of habitats and climates during its summer stay, even extending into the boreal zone. In many parts of its range it is strongly associated with water, inhabiting lakes, marshes and industrial towns by the coast. But everywhere it follows people’s activities and eats people’s waste, just as it does elsewhere.
Black Kites have a simple hunting method; they fly slowly at a level between 10m and 20m above the ground, scanning below them. There is nothing unusual in this, but what sets them apart from other birds of prey is their boldness and willingness to exploit almost opportunity they find. They will feed unconcerned with a few metres of people; they will rob other birds of prey, even the largest and most fearsome; and they will enter colonies of large, fish-eating birds to pilfer fish from nests. They snatch carrion from both ground and the water surface, group round carcasses like miniature vultures, and yet also make rapid lunges at small, live food such as chicks and rodents. There is little, it seems, that they will not try.
On the whole, Black Kites are highly sociable birds, gathering together to feed, loaf and roost – for an opportunist species, crowding is an inevitable consequence of having plentiful food nearby. Hundreds may congregate at favourite trees to spend the night, making quite an eerie sight as they crowd the branches. In some areas this sociability extends to breeding in loose colonies, but the normal pattern is for pairs to nest in isolation, and to keep the same partners year on year.
Members of a pair have quite strongly defined roles. The male, it seems, is very much a provider, bringing food in to the female on the nest as it incubates, and then also doing the bulk of hunting for the chicks when they hatch. In some cases, it appears, the female does not have to hunt for itself or its young throughout the entire nesting attempt. And, to make things even easier for her, the male also builds most of the nest structure, making a platform of sticks and decorating it with rags, paper and various other items of rubbish.
From ‘Birds: A Complete Guide to All British and European Species’, by Dominic Couzens. Published by Collins and reproduced with permission.