RAIN

Black Kite Milvus migrans (Boddaert, 1783)

Status: Lower risk , Population Trend: Stable.

Other Names: Allied Kite, Black-eared Kite (lineatus), Common Kite, Dark Kite, Eared Kite (lineatus), Egyptian Kite (aegyptius), Fork-tailed Kite (affinis), Large Indian Kite (lineatus), Pariah Kite (govinda), Siberian Black Kite (melanotis), Small Indian Kite (govinda), Yellow-billed Kite (aegyptius).

Distribution: Afrotropical/Australasian/Indomalayan/Palearctic. Breeds through most of temperate and subarctic Eurasia, northern Africa, and southwestern Arabia east throughout the Indian subcontinent to CHINA, KOREA, JAPAN, and TAIWAN south through Southeast Asia, Malay Peninsula, SUMATRA, BORNEO, WALLACEA, eastern NEW GUINEA, and AUSTRALIA; most northern populations migrate, wintering in Africa, Southeast Asia, Malay Peninsula, and SUMATRA.

Subspecies: 6 races. M. m. aegyptius: EGYPT, southwestern Arabia, coastal East Africa, and possibly further southward; M.m. affinis: SULAWESI, LESSER SUNDAS, eastern NEW GUINEA, NEW BRITAIN, and northern AUSTRALIA; M. m. formosanus: TAIWAN and South CHINA (Hainan); M. m. govinda: Eastern PAKISTAN through INDIA and SRI LANKA south through Malay Peninsula; M. m. lineatus: SIBERIA to Amurland and JAPAN south to northern INDIA, northern BURMA, northern CHINA, and RYUKYU ISLANDS; M. m. migrans: Europe and northwestern Africa east to central Asia south to PAKISTAN; winters in Africa south of the Sahara.

Clik to enlarge

Taxonomy: Within the Accipitridae, the genera Milvus and Haliaeetus (sea eagles) cluster together (Wink 1995, Wink et al. 1996) and are in a clade with Buteo and Accipiter (Wink and Seibold 1995). On the basis of syringeal morphology, Griffiths (1994) concluded that Milvus and Haliastur are sister taxa. This species hybridizes with M. milvus (e.g., Wobus and Creutz 1970, Schmidt and Schmidt 2006). Orta (1994) and Stresemann and Amadon (1979) maintained the yellow-billed African breeding populations, aegyptius and parasitus (including tenebrosus) as a part of M. migrans, although other recent authors have treated them as a single separate species (Sibley and Monroe 1993). Based on molecular studies of mitochondrial genes, Wink and Sauer-Gürth (2000) and Johnson et al. (2005) confirmed that at least the resident populations from South Africa and Madagascar should be regarded as a separate species, M. parasitus. Despite its yellow bill, the race aegyptius is tentatively included as a subspecies here, pending further study, but it is probably more closely related to M. parasitus. The Asian form lineatus may also be a specifically distinct (Amadon and Bull 1988, Sibley and Monroe 1990), although it hybridizes with the nominate race at the eastern edge of the latter’s range, according to Vaurie (1965).

Resident populations of yelllow-billed kites in northeastern Africa (aegyptius) and southern Africa (parasitus) have often been regarded as full species, based on several morphological differences, most notably bill color, from other races of M. migrans. Johnson et al. (2005) recently conducted phylogenetic analyses based on three mitochondrial genes of most major Milvus groups, and they found that there are indeed two well defined clades of yellow-billed kites, but they do not correspond to the ranges traditionally assigned to aegyptius and parasitus. Based on their analyses, the kites of South Africa and Madagascar are as distinct from those farther north in Africa as Black Kites (M. migrans) are from Red Kites (M. milvus). Further investigations are needed to clarify the situation, but in the meantime, M. parasitus is treated a full species here.

Johnson et al. (op cit.) also concluded that M. migrans, as traditionally configured, is non-monophyletic and that there is also significance divergence between M. m. affinis and the M.m. govinda/lineatus complex.

Movements: Partial migrant; some populations are long distance, trans-equatorial migrants (Bildstein 2006). Most birds breeding north of the Middle East and the Sahara are migratory, and there are three main flyways utilized between central Europe and Africa, according to Schifferli (1967). The majority of western European birds use the “Western European-West African Flyway,” a 5,000-km overland system of corridors stretching from Scandinavia to West Africa, and they are drawn mostly from breeding populations in Spain, France, and Germany (Scheider et al. 2004, Bildstein and Zalles 2005, Bensusan et al. 2007). Black Kites are also one of the most common species on the “Eurasian-East African Flyway,” stretching from eastern Scandinavia and western Siberia through the Middle East and East Africa into southern Africa (Bildstein and Zalles op cit.). Scheider et al. (2004) stated that the winter range of the Asian race, lineatus, is not known, but an intense migration has been observed in Kazakhstan. Black Kites are very nomadic in Australia, where populations ebb and flow with the season and the food supply (Olsen 1995).

Autumn migration extends from the end July to the end of November, occurring mainly in September, and spring migration is from the beginning of March to the end of May, mainly mid-March to mid-April (Shirihai 1996). Wintering birds arrive in October-December and depart in March (Shirihai op cit.). Extreme spring dates are 23 February to 6 May, and 90% of the birds are recorded from 20 March to 25 April, with a peak date of 31 March (Hilgerlow et al. 2009).

Myanmar: Black Kites breed in the dry season and move with the onset of summer rains (Smythies 1953).

Thailand: As in Myanmar, Black Kites breed in the dry season and move with the onset of summer rains (Madoc 1950).

Malay Peninsula: In early June, passage is northward, but individuals have been reported in Singapore in May and July (Wells 1999), implying that a few may disperse in other directions. The only tropical kites actually collected in the Peninsula were from November and January, and two recent sightings in Sekinchan were in early March, perhaps birds that had overshot their breeding range while returning south. Extreme dates of lineatus are 23 September (most records are after mid-October) and 15 April (Wells op cit.).

New Guinea: Locally nomadic, and a communal roost on a ridge in the Baiyer Valley was observed to contain from 8 to 120 birds throughout the year, depending on the season, with the greatest concentration being in March-April at the end of the wet season (Mackay 1981).

Australia: Nomadic. Baker-Gabb (1983) studied this species from 1980-82 in an area of northwestern Victoria, where this species arrived in late July 1980. Thirty-one pairs nested and left the area by March 1981. However, two pairs stayed and re-nested in the autumn of 1981. These two pairs and another two pairs were the only Black Kites nesting there in spring 1981. In 1982, even fewer kites were seen in the area, and none nested there at all in 1982, a year of severe drought.

Habitat and Habits: Occurs in a wide array of habitats, but in its breeding range, it favors mature forests, riparian forest, open woodlands, forest edges, grasslands, savannas, and areas of human settlements, often near water. In Bhutan, the race govinda is common in towns and villages, while lineatus is more of a montane bird (Spierenburg 2005). In Morocco, densely wooded areas and steppes and coastal areas with cliffs (for nesting) are favored (Thévenot et al. 2003) and in Australia, it soars over open plains and timbered watercourses of semi-arid and arid areas and congregates in flocks sometimes numbering thousands of birds at abattoirs and stockyards (Olsen 1995). In New Guinea, it occurs mostly in grasslands, paddocks, airfields, savannas, sewage ponds, harbors, and coastal waters (Coates 1985). Elsewhere, it occurs singly, or, more often, in nomadic groups.

Malay Peninsula: Winters in wetlands, paddylands, and various open, partly swampy sites, mainly near coasts, including rough grasslands, patchy scrub, and degraded back mangroves (Wells 1999). Sometimes occurs with Brahminy Kites around harbors, but Palearctic Black Kite migrants are rural, rather than urban scavengers (Wells op cit.).

New Guinea: Seen circling above sheep pastures in the Wahgi Valley in the Western Highlands (Gyldenstolpe 1955). Occasionally abundant in large nomadic flocks over bushy grasslands and along the coasts and larger rivers, and it comes to the vicinity of grass fires, according to Rand and Gilliard (1967). They observed one or two intermittently over grasslands by the airfields at Port Moresby. A few can usually be seen around the airfield at Goroka in the Eastern Highlands. Occurs in open areas from sea level to 1,900 m (Beehler 1978). Inhabits grasslands, scrub, and towns, and often flies along roads, searching for carrion, rarely flying more than 20-30 m high, but occasionally soaring, sometimes with other kite species (Beehler et al. 1986).

Australia: This species sunbathes and dustbathes communally on the ground and roosts communally in trees (Debus 1998).

Food and Feeding Behavior: Very opportunistic feeder, especially prone to feeding on road kills (including other kites), dead fish along shorelines, and visiting trash dumps and stockyards. Also feeds on young, sick or injured birds, small mammals, frogs, lizards, and insects. Frequently hunts in flocks and may pirate prey from other raptor species and from each other. This species congregates at termite emergences and grassland fires on its wintering range in southern Africa and the Malay Peninsula. When foraging, birds fly slowly, constantly changing directions and searching the ground for potential prey (Adamian and Klem 1999). When prey is spotted, the bird folds it wings, dives, and stretches the feet to grasp the prey, which is carried in the talons.

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Malay Peninsula: Wells (1999) provided the following observations on Black Kite feeding habits: They aerial-quarter, typically 20-30 m high. They are attracted to stubble and straw fires, probably to capture flushed live prey, but no active hunting has been reported. A major attraction of paddylands is carrion, including fish killed by pesticide run-off into irrigation channels and rats lying in the open after poison-baiting. They also kleptoparasitize one another and other raptors.

Philippines: May swoop down and pick up dead fish from the surface of water, catch insects on the wing, or catch small rodents on the ground (Kennedy et al. 2001).

Indonesia: On Sumba, this species feeds on locust plagues in the highlands, as well as rodents (Olsen and Trost 2007).

New Guinea: The food in New Guinea is chiefly rodents and insects, including insects picked up from the surface of rivers and bays and insects caught in the feet and eaten in flight; this species is also a well known scavenger (Rand and Giliard 1967). Two young in a nest near Lae were reared on a diet of introduced Cane Toads (Bufo marinus), which are quite poisonous to many predatory species (Bell 1971). One of these kites was collected at Kandanaman camp along the Middle Sepik River, as it flew low over a tethered bird-of-paradise (Paradiseae minor) (Gilliard and Lecroy 1966). It gathers in large numbers on the leeward side of grasslands fires in wait for fleeing grasshoppers and searches the ground for burned prey once the fire has passed (Diamond 1972).

Australia: Forages for prey by high soaring and quartering, dropping on prey, hawks flying insects, snatches prey from water surfaces, and sometimes baits fish (Debus 1998). It also patrols roads and fires fronts, robs other raptors, and follows herds of stock or farm machinery for flushed prey (Debus op cit.). In Australia, this species has learned to deal with road-killed Cane Toads by turning them over and opening the belly, thus avoiding the dorsal poison glands (Debus 1998).

Photographer: Kevin Frayer/AP(http://www.guardian.co.uk)

Breeding: Often nests in loose colonies, but sometimes solitarily. Typically nests in trees, including conifers, but also on cliffs, and even electricity pylons (Herklots 1967, Gatter 1997, Thévenot et al. 2003), and the old nests of other species may also be used (Kren 2000). A new nest is usually built annually (Adamian and Klem 1999). The stick nest is lined with dry vegetation, rags, wool, fur, dung, soil, scraps of paper, and other rubbish and placed 2-30 m above the ground in a tree canopy. Clutch size is usually 2 or 3 eggs, sometimes 1 and rarely 4 or 5, and the eggs are dull white with brown or violet spots. Incubation begins with the first egg and lasts 28-30 days in Israel (Shirihai 1996), 30 days in Armenia (Adamian and Klem 1999), and about 31 days in Australia (Debus 1998). The nestling period is 42-48 days in Israel (Shirihai 1996) and 37-44 days in Australia, where fledged young are dependent on the parents for about two months (Debus op cit.).

Conservation: Probably the most common diurnal raptor in the world, especially if both of the yellow-billed forms are included (Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001). It is vulnerable to poisoning in southern Africa, but populations may have increased there over recent decades as the result of expanding human populations producing more trash and offal. Its European breeding population declined substantially between 1970 and 1990 and further between 1990-2000 (BirdLife International 2004). Categorized as “Rare” for Europe, but as a species of “Least Concern” globally by BirdLife International.

Malay Peninsula: Formerly rare to vagrant south of the Thalae Noi-Songkhla wetlands (Gibson-Hill 1949), but now seen regularly south to Singapore, but never in large numbers (Wells 1999). The increase has been due solely to the expansion of the Palearctic migrant lineatus (which is white-skinned), and there has actually been a decrease in the number of the dispersing tropical yellow-skinned race, govinda (Wells op cit.), probably reflecting the decline in breeding populations to the north in Thailand (Round 1989). The risk of secondary poisoning from zinc phosphide and anti-coagulants used against rats in agricultural fields is not known, but fall-off in the use of Malaysian paddylands coincided closely with a move to large-scale, post-harvest applications of herbicides (Wells op cit.).

Indonesia: Olsen and Trost (2007) suggested that the clearing of the natural forest cover on Sumba has led to an increased number of these kites.

Australia: Numbers of this species have increased in Australia as it has taken advantage of more rubbish dumps, slaughterhouses, and an increase in the rabbit population (which has no doubt led to more road kills (Olsen 1995, Debus 1998). Eggshell thickness of this species was not affected during the period of DDT use in Australia (Debus op cit.). This species was not recorded in southwestern Australia until 1952 (Serventy and Whittell 1976), but has been recorded periodically since then (Saunders and Ingram 1995).

Important References:

Andrew, P. 1992. The birds of Indonesia: a checklist (Peter’s sequence). Kukila Checklist no. 1. Indonesian Ornithological Society, Jakarta,  Indonesia.

BirdLife International/European Bird Census Council. 2000. European bird populations: estimates and trends. BirdLife Conservation Series no. 10. BirdLife International,Cambridge, UK.

Coates, B.J., and K.D. Bishop. 1997. A guide to the birds of Wallacea, Sulawesi, the Moluccas and Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia. Dove Publications, Alderley, Queensland, Australia.

Coates, B.J. 1985. The birds of Papua New Guinea, including the Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville. Vol. I. Non-passerines. Dove Publications,  Alderley, Queensland, Australia.

Coates, B.J., and W.J. Peckover. 2001. Birds of New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago: a photographic guide. Dove Publications, Alderley, Queensland, Australia.

Debus, S. 1998. The birds of prey of Australia: a field guide. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

Diamond, J.M. 1972. Avifauna of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea. Publications of the Nuttall Ornithological Club no. 12.

Gilliard, E.T., and M. Lecroy. New Guinea: results of the American Museum of Natural History Expedition to New Guinea in 1953-1954. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 132:245-276.

Ferguson-Lees, J., and D.A. Christie. 2001. Raptors of the world. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA.

Lavery, H.J., and P.M. Johnson. 1992. The Black Kite Milvus migrans in the Townsville district of Queensland: a comparison of irruption an   non-irruption years. In P. Olsen and J. Olsen (eds.),  Australian raptor studies. Australiasian Raptor Association.

Marchant, S., and P. Higgins (eds.). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand, and Antarctic birds. Vol. 2. Raptors to lapwings. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia.

Mendelsohn, J.M. 1997. Black Kite. Pp. 168-169 in J.A. Harrison (eds.), The atlas of South African birds. Volume 1: Non-passerines. BirdLife South Africa and Avian Demography Unit, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Orta, J. 1994. Black Kite. Pp. 118-119 in del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and J. Sargatal (eds). Handbook of birds of the world. Vol. 2. New World vulture  to guineafowl. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

van Balen, B.S. 1998. Tropical forest raptors in Indonesia: recent  information on distribution, status, and conservation. Journal of Raptor  Research 32:56-63.

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