Red kite

Appearance

Red kites are 60 to 70 cm long with a 175–179 cm wingspan; males weigh 800–1,200 g, and females 1,000–1,300 g.

It is an elegant bird, soaring on long wings held at a dihedral, and long forked tail, twisting as it changes direction. The body, upper tail and wing coverts are rufous.

The white primary flight feathers contrast with the black wing tips and dark secondaries. Apart from the weight difference, the sexes are similar, but juveniles have a buff breast and belly.

Its call is a thin piping sound, similar to but less mewling than the common buzzard. There is a rare white leucistic form accounting for approximately 1% of hatchlings in the Welsh population but is at a disadvantage in the survival stakes.

Distribution

Red kites inhabit broadleaf woodlands, valleys and wetland edges, to 800 metres.

They are endemic to the western Palearctic, with the European population of 19,000–25,000 pairs encompassing 95% of its global breeding range.

It breeds from Spain and Portugal east into central Europe and Ukraine, north to southern Sweden, Latvia and the UK, and south to southern Italy.

There is a population in northern Morocco. Northern birds move south in winter, mostly staying in the west of the breeding range, but also to eastern Turkey, northern Tunisia and Algeria.

Reproduction

Although adult red kites are sedentary birds, occupying their breeding home range all year in most cases, populations from Central and Northern Europe—although not the United Kingdom—may migrate south to areas such as Spain and the Iberian peninsula during colder winters.

Each nesting territory can contain up to five nest sites. Both male and female birds build the nest on a main fork or a limb high in a tree, 12–20 m above the ground. The nest is made of twigs and lined with grass or other vegetation and sheep’s wool. At signs of danger, a mother will signal the young who will "play dead" when a predator is near.

Food

The red kite's diet consists mainly of small mammals such as mice, voles, shrews, young hares and rabbits. It feeds on a wide variety of carrion including sheep carcasses and dead game birds. Live birds are also taken and occasionally reptiles and amphibians. Earthworms form an important part of the diet, especially in spring.

As scavengers, red kites are particularly susceptible to poisoning. Illegal poison baits set for foxes or crows are indiscriminate and kill protected birds and other animals. There have also been a number of incidents of red kites and other raptors being targeted by wildlife criminals.