Large, with diagnostic long, forked tail. Sexes alike.
Adults: Head, neck, upper back, breast, brown, feathers with dark brown shaft narrowly bordered buff. Eye, yellowish. Throat, buff with dark shaft streaks. Back, rump, dark brown, feathers with pale edges. Tail, dark brown avove, faintly barred and tipped with buff, below, brownish-grey with indistinct narrow brown bars and a broader subterminal band. Base of primaries whitish, forming a pale wing patch on underwing. Belly, brown with broader buff margins to shafts. Undertail coverts, off white. Cere, yellow. Bill, dark brown, yellow at base of lower mandible. Legs, yellow.
Immatures: Like adults but underpart feathers have wedge-shaped pale tips and are more heavily streated with buff.
Other Names (World)
Black Kite, Black-eared Kite (lineatus), Eared Kite (lineatus), Large Indian Kite (lineatus), Indian Kite (govinda), Pariah Kite (govinda), Yellow-billed Kite (aegyptius, parasitus), Fork-tailed Kite (affinis), Allied Kite (affinis), Kimberley Hawk (affinis), Kite-Hawk (affinis)
Northern and central Australia, south to Point Cloates, WA, northern South Australia and central-western New South Wales. Also Tasmania during sporadic irruptions.
Black Kite (Milvus migrans) [XC896545]
by Barry Edmonston from Arrondissement de Thonon-les-Bains (near Lugrin), Haute-Savoie, Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes, France (call, call)
Black Kite (Milvus migrans) [XC511561]
by LIN Wen-Horn from V\u00e4stra G\u00f6taland, Sweden (alarm call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
September - January in the south, April - July in the north.
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Nest
Small, flat, compact, composed of sticks and lined with wool or fur, placed in a fork of a tree up to 10 meters from the ground. Occasionally an old nest of another bird is used.
Eggs (Guide)
2 or 3; white with sparse red marks; rounded-oval; about 51 x 42 mm. Incubation: about 35 days; by female.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in 38 - 42 days.
Subspecies
Black Kite (Milvus migrans) and Black-eared Kite (Milvus lineatus) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped following AERC TAC, a treatment supported by review by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group of the Milvus phylogeny presented by Johnson et al. (2005) which nests lineatus within the migrans clade. Johnson et al. (2005) show that yellow-billed populations belonging to aegyptius and parasitus do form a separate clade but the authors point out that further studies are needed to help clarify sister relationships within the group. For these reasons it is felt premature to split members of Milvus migrans.
Hybridizes with Red Kite (Milvus milvus) on Cape Verde Is. Several of subspecies frequently awarded separate species status, most notably lineatus and aegyptius (incorporating parasitus). Intergradation indicates probably best regarded as single species, with several well marked subspecies.
The following 7 subspecies are recognised:
migrans (Boddaert, 1783) - North-western Africa and Europe east to central Asia (Tien Shan) and south to Pakistan. Winters south to Africa south of Sahara.
lineatus (Gray, JE, 1831) - Siberia east to Amurland and Japan south to northern India, northern Burma and northern China and Ryukyu Is. Winters south to southern Iraq, southern India and south-eastern Asia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Black-eared Kite (Milvus lineatus).
formosanus Kuroda, Nagamichi, 1920 - Taiwan and Hainan.
govinda Sykes, 1832 - Eastern Pakistan east through India and Sri Lanka to Indochina and Malay Peninsula.
aegyptius (Gmelin, 1788) - Widespread. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Yellow-billed Kite (Milvus aegyptius).
parasitus (Daudin, 1800) - Africa south of Sahara, Cape Verde Is, Comoro Is and Madagascar. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Yellow-billed Kite (Milvus aegyptius).
affinis Gould, 1838 - Sulawesi and possibly Lesser Sunda Is; eastern New Guinea and New Britain; northern Australia south (in east) to Victoria.
Similar Species
Square-tailed Kite (Lophoictinia isura)
Lacks the fork tail. Has a whiter face. Very long fingered primaries.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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