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Red Kite

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

                    iRed Kite

                             Conservation status

   Near Threatened (NT)
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom:   Animalia
   Phylum:    Chordata
   Subphylum: Vertebrata
   Class:     Aves
   Order:     Falconiformes
   Family:    Accipitridae
   Subfamily: Milvinae
   Genus:     Milvus
   Species:   M. milvus

                                Binomial name

   Milvus milvus
   (Linnaeus, 1758)

   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. It is a European rare species
   which is resident in the milder parts of its range, but birds from
   northern and central Europe winter further south and west.

Physical characteristics and behaviour

   The Red Kite is 61–72 cm (24–28 in) long with a 175-200 cm (69–79 in)
   wingspan. It is an elegant bird, soaring with 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. Sexes
   are similar, but juveniles have a buff breast and belly. The call is a
   thin piping, similar to but less mewling than Common Buzzard. This
   species nests in trees, often close to other kites. In winter, many
   kites will roost together.

   At signs of danger a mother will signal the young who will 'play dead'
   to the extent that a fox will believe them to be dead and leave them,
   thinking it can return to eat them later.

Distribution

   In the Middle Ages, Red Kites were much more widespread, their
   scavenging habits making them the refuse collectors of the day, but
   their numbers have much decreased through illegal persecution and
   poisoning. Rumours spread amongst the farming community that they were
   capable of killing sheep, as they were often found scavenging off
   animal carcasses. In reality, they will only take small live prey as
   well as carrion, and will rob other birds. Their scavenging nature
   makes them particularly vulnerable to accidental secondary poisoning,
   where they scavenge the carcass of an animal that has been poisoned and
   succumb to the poison themselves.
   Red Kite, top, mobbing an adult White-tailed Eagle.
   Enlarge
   Red Kite, top, mobbing an adult White-tailed Eagle.

   In the United Kingdom, the breeding population eventually became
   restricted to a handful of pairs in Wales, but recently the Welsh
   population has been supplemented by re-introductions in England and
   Scotland. In 1989 six Swedish birds were released at a site in north
   Scotland and four Swedish and one Welsh bird in Buckinghamshire.
   Altogether, 93 birds of Swedish and Spanish origin were released at
   each of the sites. In the second stage of reintroduction in 1995 and
   1996, further birds were brought over from Germany to populate the
   areas of Dumfries and Galloway, and the Derwent Valley.

   The reintroductions in The Chilterns have been a particular success,
   with a now well-established strong population across Oxfordshire,
   Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. The Kites are a common sight above the
   houses of the Buckinghamshire village of Stokenchurch and its
   surrounding area. Sightings are common along the M40 between Oxford and
   Wycombe, all the way down to Reading and Newbury on the M4. In June
   2006, the UK-based Northern Kites Project reported that kites have bred
   in the Derwent Valley for the first time since the re-introduction .

   One of the best places to see the Red Kite is Skåne in southern Sweden:
   here it is less rare, and may be observed in one of its breeding
   locations such as the Kullaberg Nature Preserve near Molle . One of the
   best places to see them in the UK is Gigrin Farm near Rhayader, mid
   Wales, where hundreds are fed by the local farmer as a tourist
   attraction (see also Red Kite feeding in Wales).

Genetics

   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.

   The Red Kites on the Cape Verde Islands were once considered by some to
   be a separate species, the Cape Verde Kite (Milvus fasciicauda).
   However, a recent mtDNA study on museum specimens suggests that they
   are indistinguishable from other Red Kites. However, this result is
   problematic as mtDNA analysis is very susceptible to hybridization
   events, the evolutionary history of the Cape Verde population is not
   known, and the genetic relationship of Red Kites in general is very
   confusing, with geographical proximity being no indicator of genetic
   relatedness. Given the morphological distinctness of the Cape Verde
   birds (which were between Red and Black Kites from their outward
   appearance and the fact that the Cape Verde population was isolated
   from other populations of Red Kites, it cannot be conclusively resolved
   at this time whether the Cape Verde population wasn't a distinct
   subspecies (as M. migrans fasciicauda) that frequently absorbed
   stragglers from the migrating European populations into its gene pool.
   More research seems warranted, but at any rate the Cape Verde birds are
   now effectively extinct, all surviving birds being hybrids with Black
   Kites (which merely raises further questions about their taxonomic
   status).

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