Juveniles have a less deeply forked tail, with a dark subterminal band.Adults have black breast-streaks whereas on juveniles these are pale.Adults are overall more deeply rufous, compared with the more washed out colour of juveniles.Differences between adults and juveniles Īdults differ from juveniles in a number of characteristics: There is a rare white leucistic form accounting for approximately 1% of hatchlings in the Welsh population, but this variation confers a disadvantage in the survival stakes. Its call is a thin piping sound, similar to but less mewling than the common buzzard. Apart from the weight difference, the sexes are similar, but juveniles have a buff breast and belly. The white primary flight feathers contrast with the black wing tips and dark secondaries.

The body, upper tail and wing coverts are rufous. It is an elegant bird, soaring on long wings held at a dihedral, and long forked tail, twisting as it changes direction. Description Leucistic form A red kite skull Red kite, falconry Adlerwarte Obernberg am Inn, Upper Austria The early fifteenth century Hengwrt manuscript contains the lines: 'Ther cam a kyte, whil þt they were so wrothe That bar awey the boon bitwix hem bothe.' The first recorded use of the word 'kite' for a toy that is attached to a length of string and flown in the air dates from the seventeenth century. A kite is mentioned by Geoffrey Chaucer's in his Knight's Tale. The English word 'kite' is from the Old English cyta which is of unknown origin. The Cape Verde population became effectively extinct since 2000, all surviving birds being hybrids with black kites. migrans fasciicauda) or even species that frequently absorbed stragglers from the migrating European populations into its gene pool. Given the morphological distinctness of the Cape Verde birds and that the Cape Verde population was isolated from other populations of red kites, it cannot be conclusively resolved as to whether the Cape Verde population was not a distinct subspecies (as M. This interpretation is problematic: mtDNA analysis is susceptible to hybridization events, the evolutionary history of the Cape Verde population is not known, and the genetic relationship of red kites is confusing, with geographical proximity being no indicator of genetic relatedness and the overall genetic similarity high, perhaps indicating a relict species. A mitochondrial DNA study on museum specimens suggested that Cape Verde birds did not form a monophyletic lineage among or next to red kites. The question whether the Cape Verde kite should be considered a distinct species ( Milvus fasciicauda) or a red kite subspecies has not been settled.

The red kites on the Cape Verde Islands are (or rather were) quite distinct in morphology, being somewhat intermediate with black kites. The red kite has been known to successfully hybridize with the black kite in captivity where both species were kept together, and in the wild on the Cape Verde Islands and infrequently in other places. The genus Milvus contains two other species: the black kite ( M. fasciicauda Hartert, 1914 – Cape Verde Islands milvus (Linnaeus, 1758) – Europe and northwest Africa to the Middle East In 1799 the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède moved the species to the genus Milvus creating the tautonym. The word milvus was the Latin name for the bird. The red kite was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Falco milvus. Vagrants have reached north to Finland and south to Israel, Libya and Gambia. Historically, it was only resident in the milder parts of its range in western Europe and northwestern Africa, whereas all or most red kites in northern mainland Europe wintered to the south and west, some also reaching western Asia, but an increasing number of northern birds now remain in that region year-round. The species currently breeds only in Europe, though it formerly also bred in west Asia and northwest Africa. The red kite ( Milvus milvus) is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. Red Kite at Bwlch Nant yr Arian, Wales, a local feeding ground. Summer breeding visitor, some migrating elsewhere during winter

Pictures of kite birds