Red Kite / Red-Tail Kite or Red-Tailed Kite
Milvus milvus
fam. Accipitridae eagles, hawks and kites
order Falconiformes
class Aves (birds)
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| | | The toy "kite" is named after this bird of prey which hovers in the breeze, apparently motoinless, as it searches for its prey. |
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The hawk-like bird has rusty-red plumage when mature which is streaked with white about the head. The wings are angled and the prominently forked tail is translucent when viewed against the sunlight.
Hovering in the breeze, apparently motoinless, as it searches for its prey, the red kite kills small mammals by plunging to the ground to take them. It relies heavily however on carrion and feeds freely on dead sheep, rabbits and other mammals but in hard weather when food is scarce it will eat almost anything.
A scavenger and predatoron small animals, the red kite was common in the streets of medieval towns and cities such as London where it fed on carrion and rodents, nesting on the ledges of tall buildings.
The gradual cleaning up of towns in the 18th century with the advent of sewerage systems and organised refuse disposal saw a corresponding decrease in the numberof these birds of prey which were once widespread in Britain.
The decline of the red kites was hastened by relentless persecution by gamekeepers and farmers protecting their charges and later by the toxicity of pesticides such as DDT.
By the early 1970s, the birds were confined to a handfull of breeding pairs in a few Welsh valleys where they nested in oak woods hanging in steep valleys.
Number gradually increased through the efforts of ornithologists and sympathetic farmers until there were 20 breeding pairs in the mid-1970's.
Despite the rarity of the birds, they are still threatened by egg-collectors as well as more inocuous human activities such as motorised tourists and bird-watchers which disturb these sensitive raptors.
Numbers are increasing steadily but there are fears that the feeling of established woods and the afforestation of open moors might again place the species in jeapardy.
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