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GrasslandPlatform nestMedium · 260 g
What the Black-winged Kite sounds like
ID tip
This long-winged raptor is predominantly grey or white with black shoulder patches, wing tips and eye stripe. The long falcon-like wings extend beyond the tail when the bird is perched. In flight, the short and square tail is visible and it is not forked as in the typical kites of the genus Milvus. When perched, often on roadside wires, it often adjusts its wings and jerks its tail up and down as if to balance itself. The sexes are alike in plumage.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Black-winged Kite
One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is January, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Black-winged Kite
The map shades 105 countries with regular records, and 5 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in United Kingdom, Mauritania, Estonia, Timor-Leste, Australia.
About the Black-winged Kite
The black-winged kite, also known as the black-shouldered kite, is a small diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae best known for its habit of hovering over open grasslands in the manner of the much smaller kestrels. This Palearctic and Afrotropical species was sometimes combined with the Australian black-shouldered kite and the white-tailed kite of North and South America which together form a superspecies. This kite is distinctive, with long wings; white, grey and black plumage; and owl-like forward-facing eyes with red irises. The owl-like behaviour is even more pronounced in the letter-winged kite, a nocturnal relative in Australia.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
White-tailed KiteElanus leucurusThe coloration of the white-tailed kite is gull-like, but its shape and flight are falcon-like, with a rounded tail.
Black-shouldered KiteElanus axillarisThe adult black-shouldered kite is around 35 cm (14 in) in length, with a wingspan of between 80 and 100 cm (31 and 39 in).
Letter-winged KiteElanus scriptusThe adult letter-winged kite is about 35 cm (14 in) in length, with a wingspan between 84 and 100 cm (33 and 39 in).
Side by side: Black-winged Kite vs White-tailed Kite · Black-shouldered Kite vs Black-winged Kite
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