Red Kite appreciation thread.

[meglet]

We seem to have a stable Red Kite population over our town these days. Generally there's one or two gliding overhead, the most I've seen is four.

I've only see one swoop down for food so far, a piece of discarded BBQ burger at a school fair on a busy playground. Stunning sight, it didn't come in smoothly (like a peregrine falcon) it almost twisted and spun as it came in to grab the food.

The local crows don't like the kites though, I've seen a few scraps with the crows trying to dive bomb them.

We used to have loads around us, the most we saw on the way to school was 8, but in the last few months we rarely see any, occasionally one or two.
I wonder if they move on to new places or if local farmers and gamekeepers have brought the numbers down.
I love seeing them, beautiful birds.
Good idea for a thread!

They were introduced near us about 10 years ago and now they fly over the garden most days.they are magnificent and love watching them , hate it when crows gang up on them

I love them, we have recently moved and our new neighbour has a feeding station set up in the garden (and buys expensive butchers meat for them!) I get to see one flying in every morning - must get the camera out

lechien according to the very nice people at the hawk conservancy (who I geekily emailed about it) the kites lay low over the breeding season, which starts in April. I've noticed ours vanish for a while during nesting season .

maybe yours are ok and will pop up again soon. hope so.

Can you describe them? My dad said we have lots here when he came to visit, I hadno idea

I hope so Meglet, it makes our day when we see them.

They are beautiful and completely distinctive with that v or fork shaped tail. Plus they are a reddish colour.

When my dad first told me he had seen a red kite, I did think . But that was because I was thinking of kites on a string, not a bird

I love to see them. In recent years they've come further and further south so now they often appear over us.

Yes, we've got them as well! Lovely to spot them, my 5 year old spots them from far now... I love it when they fly over low and you get a good look.

We had 2 cruising over the allotments yesterday. They seemed to be calling to each other, sort of a squeaky whistle. not the sort of sound you'd expect from such a large bird.