Accipitriformes
Accipitridés
Milvus
migrans
23 years
As I did for the 'Royal Kite', I will describe the Black Kite in comparison with its congenrica. Indeed, when posed, they can be confused, but thankfully not in flight. The silhouette of the Black Kite is different. It is smaller, less slender and its tail barely exceeds the points of its closed wings. It is generally darker but the pattern of its feathers is almost the same. Let's look at the adult. Seen from the front, one notices a darkly streaked gray head, cinnamon brown underside and a grayish tail barred with dark. It is in bright light, in full sunlight that it can evoke the 'Royal Kite', the gray of the head can appear quite ash and the red of the underside brighter. On the other hand, seen from the back, there is no problem. The plumage of the upper parts is of a solid brown, with the edges bordered in beige forming a pale zone. Above all, the tail is brownish, never reddish in appearance. The beak is black, the iris pale yellow, the cere and legs yellow. The juvenile is typical with its brown plumage marked with chamois (mottled/edged above, striped below), its head streaked with chamois with a dark area around the eye and pale yellow waxy. The immature plumages are closer to that of the adult. In flight, the silhouette is an important criterion. The Black Kite also has bent wings, slightly drooping in gliding flight, but shorter than those of the 'Royal Kite'. The tail is shorter and less concave. Spread out, it is triangular. Seen from above, the bird is brown with lighter coverings. From below, the feather pattern is the same as that of the 'Royal Kite', but darker and much less contrasty. The white spots on the wings in particular stand out less. But it's still the tail that remains the determining criterion. 7 subspecies are described which present notable variations compared to the description above, particularly the ssp lineatus.I won't mention it here but the iconography will make reference to it. Oiseaux.net already treats the African ssp. aegyptius, the Black Kite, as a good species with 2 ssp.
The Black Kite is an ubiquitous species in the territories it occupies, present nearly everywhere in plains and in mid-mountains.
The most notable character trait of this species is its gregariousness, which is more pronounced than that of its congener, the Black Kite.
Its flight recalls that of the royal kite. The wings being shorter, the beats are a bit faster but we recognize the slightly drooping, typical kite-bends.
The Black Kite is a very predatory bird and even detritophagic when it frequents dumps. It often behaves as a commensal of Man, knowing that the table is often laid for it, particularly in developing countries (various dumps, slaughterhouse or killing walls, fishing spots and even simple piles of domestic waste).
The breeding period varies greatly depending on the subspecies and the region. In Europe, it ranges from April to June, although current climate changes tend to anticipate it.
The Black Kite's nesting area is much larger than the royal one. It covers the Eurasian continent except for the British Isles, Scandinavia, Northern Siberia and the extreme east of Russia. The main areas are Europe, NW Africa and SW Asia (ssp type migrans), eastern Pakistan, the Indian continent and Ceylon, south China, Indochina and the Malay peninsula (ssp govinda), Mongolia, northern China and Japan (ssp lineatus), and finally Australia (ssp affinis). Migrans and lineatus are migratory and they winter in the south, south of the Sahara for the former, in the south of India and SE Asia for the latter.
As was the case with the Red Kite, there was a decline in European populations of the Black Kite at the end of the 20th century, for the same reasons, first and foremost the consumption of prey poisoned or contaminated by various agricultural pesticides. Since then, the situation has improved. Surveys from Gibraltar show an increase in numbers of migrating birds, which reflects likely a switch to more rational, less polluting agriculture of soils and waters. At the same time, new threats can appear like the large-scale development of wind farms that create obstacles to birds becoming mobile like the kites. We must thus remain vigilant. Nevertheless, the Black Kite remains the most common raptor in many countries, in particular in Japan, India and sub-Saharan Africa. It is currently considered to not be at risk globally. It is helped by its commensalism with humans.