Black Kite Milvus migrans
A familiar and common species in much of Europe but a very rare visitor to the UK, mainly in spring. Although recorded annually in Norfolk most records involve birds moving straight through and it is consequently a difficult bird to connect with here. The spring of 2007 was a good one and unusually 2-3 birds stayed for prolonged periods enabling most of the county's birders to catch up with this difficult species at last. The first two photos below show one of these; the remainder were photographed in southern Europe.
Although identification is not difficult given good views, this species has an extremely high rejection rate, that is a high proportion of claims are deemed unacceptable. Usually the confusion is not with its closest congener, the Red Kite (although dark Red Kites can create confusion with well-marked Black Kites), but Marsh Harriers, especially ones with moulting tail feathers which may give the impression of having a forked tail.
Some authorities now treat the Asian form, Black-eared Kite, as a separate species. Some very poor quality images of this form appear on their own page. Scroll down to the bottom of this page for images of the African form, Yellow-billed Kite.
%20L.JPG "Black Kite, Burnham Norton, 24-Apr-07") |
%20L.JPG "Black Kite, Burnham Norton, 24-Apr-07") |
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Black Kite, Burnham Norton (Norfolk, UK), 24th April 2007
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%20L.JPG "Black Kite, N of Lumbier, 18-Jun-09") |
%20L.JPG "Black Kite, N of Lumbier, 18-Jun-09") |
%20L.JPG "Black Kite, N of Lumbier, 18-Jun-09") |
%20L.JPG "Black Kite, N of Lumbier, 18-Jun-09") |
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Black Kite, north of Lumbier (Navarre, Spain), 18th June 2009
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%20L.JPG "Black Kite, Elvas, 24-Apr-06") |
%20L.JPG "Black Kite, Elvas, 24-Apr-06") |
%20L.JPG "Black Kite, Elvas, 24-Apr-06") |
%20L.JPG "Black Kite, Elvas, 24-Apr-06") |
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Black Kites, Elvas (Portugal), 24th April 2006
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%20L.JPG "Black Kite, Elvas, 23-Apr-06") |
%20L.JPG "Black Kite, Elvas, 23-Apr-06") |
%20L.JPG "Black Kite, Elvas, 23-Apr-06") |
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Black Kites, Elvas (Portugal), 23rd April 2006
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%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 2-Oct-11") |
.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 2-Oct-11") |
.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 2-Oct-11") |
.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 2-Oct-11") |
%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 2-Oct-11") |
%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 2-Oct-11") |
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Black Kites, near Drift (Cornwall, UK), 2nd October 2011
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(1).JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(2).JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(4)%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(6)%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(7)%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(9).JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(10).JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(11)%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(12)%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(13)%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(15)%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(16)%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(17)%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(20)%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(22)%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
(23)%20L.JPG "Black Kite, near Drift, 3-Oct-11") |
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Black Kites (and Rooks), near Drift (Cornwall, UK), 3rd October 2011
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.jpg "Black Kite, Viguerat, 6-May-99") |
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Black Kite, east of Mourão (Spain), 21st April 2006
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Black Kite, Viguerat (Bouche du Rhone, France), 6th May 1999
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.jpg "Black Kite, Viguerat, 6-May-99") |
.jpg "Black Kite, Viguerat, 6-May-99") |
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Black Kite, Viguerat (Bouche-du-Rhone, France), 6th May 1999
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Black Kite, Camargue (Bouche-du-Rhone, France), 4th May 1999
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Black Kite, Entressen Tip (Bouche-du-Rhone, France), 26th May 2000
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Black Kites from Europe winter in Africa but the birds that breed in Africa are often treated as a different species, Yellow-billed Kite Milvus aegyptius. Birds in Malawi (below) belong to the race parasites:
%20L.JPG "Yellow-billed Kite, Thyolo, 29-Sep-08") |
%20L.JPG "Yellow-billed Kite, Thyolo, 29-Sep-08") |
%20L.JPG "Yellow-billed Kite, Thyolo, 29-Sep-08") |
%20L.JPG "Yellow-billed Kite, Thyolo, 29-Sep-08") |
Yellow-billed Kite, Satemwa Tea Estate, Thyolo (Malawi), 29th September 2008
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%20L.JPG "Yellow-billed Kite, Nyika, 5-Oct-08") |
%20L.JPG "Yellow-billed Kite, Nyika, 5-Oct-08") |
Yellow-billed Kite, Nyika Plateau (Malawi), 5th October 2008
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%20T.JPG "Red Kite")
%20T.JPG "Marsh Harrier")