Have you seen these medium-sized black birds hovering within the skies over your metropolis and making shrill ‘chii-hihihi-chii-hihihi’ calls which will sound just like the neighing of a horse in sample? Have you seen them perching on terraces of high-rises and communication and electrical energy towers and generally being engaged in fights with crows? These grasp fliers which have tailored to cityscapes are black kites, a hen of prey unfazed by human presence.
Being hunters, most birds smaller in dimension concern black kites. However, crows, the good and clever birds, usually harass these raptors. Crows tease black kites in the course of the latter’s mating season and even prey on the raptors’ eggs. Therefore, many a time, the black kites, which belong to the Accipitridae household of birds which additionally contains hawks, eagles, harriers, and Old World vultures, amongst others, are seen chasing away crows.
Black kite (Scientific title: Milvus migrans) is known as samdi or shiyalu samdi in Gujarati. It is a medium-sized hen of prey. It is a quite common hen in Ahmedabad and most large cities in India, the place the inhabitants of pigeons is massive – as kites hunt them. It is tough to differentiate between a male and a feminine of black kites as a result of they each look comparable. The solely distinction is that the feminine is longer than a male and her wingspan is bigger than that of a male. They have a darkish brown physique, blackish gray hooked beak, yellow color across the nostrils, yellow gape-line and toes, and brown iris with black pupils. Its tail appears barely forked. Some of the higher physique feathers have a white shade or lighter brown in the direction of the tip.
Calls of black kites are heard rather a lot in winter as a result of winter is the mating season of those birds. From early morning they’re usually heard making these shrill ‘chii-hihihi’ calls, similar to that of a woodpecker.
Black kites want sunny scorching locations and, subsequently, are discovered extra in dry scorching locations like Ahmedabad and Delhi. They want to roost in teams. One such website is the Ahmedabad University campus the place one can discover round 150 black kites roosting collectively within the evenings.
Many instances, an aerial courtship show, referred to as talon-grappling, is carried out by black kites (each men and women) to draw the accomplice. They name one another loudly, lock their talons, and fall freely, spinning or tumbling or cartwheeling from a top. It is sort of superb to observe such a show which includes numerous acrobatics. Once they select their companions, the male strolls for a couple of minutes to the place the feminine is, after which each mate. This interval is shorter as in comparison with different birds. They build their nest on a tree at a top from the place three-four thick branches are rising. Because the hen itself is large in form, it wants a giant and robust nest to hatch the eggs. Hatchlings additionally keep for about 45 days within the nest. So, in addition they want house.
To build a robust nest, a black kite makes use of massive and thick twigs, strings, items of garments, hays, and many others. It lays two to a few eggs at a time. Males and females each take part equally in parenting. They build the nest, hatch the eggs, convey meals, and take turns to maintain a watch on the nest. The eggs and hatchlings of a black kite are in danger due to crows. Due to the massive dimension of the nest and the black kite itself, it comes into the sight of the crows. The crows watch when the eggs are laid, the chicks hatch and infrequently prey on them. Apart from this, black kite’s kills are additionally a blessing for crows. After a black kite eats its prey and flies away, the crows eat the residue of such prey. During their mating season, the crows harass black kites by pecking them. So black kites chasing crows is a moderately widespread sight throughout winter.
Parent kites watching their young one because the latter tries to fly. (Photo by Harsheev Trushit Naik)
In winter, black kites open their wings and bask within the solar. Both men and women are seen sharing and consuming meals collectively. Black kites are scavengers, however in addition they hunt. The meals of black kites is different small birds, particularly pigeons. Ahmedabad has an excellent inhabitants of pigeons. Before a pigeon is aware of something, it turns into prey of black kites as a result of pigeons are by nature naïve (or moderately dumb), slow-moving, and stay in massive flocks. So, black kites hunt them simply. Apart from this, these raptors additionally prey on mice, snakes, lizards, and different small birds. Black kites are very vocal birds. Mostly they hunt individually however a flock of them may also execute a well-coordinated counterattack after they really feel threatened.
Despite all their highly effective flight, mid-air manoeuvrability, and searching abilities, black kites, the hunters, turn into prey of extra highly effective hunters like Eurasian eagle-owls.
The chicks of black kites are gray in shade when born. Gradually they appear brownish as their feathers develop. When it’s time to fly, the chicks depart the nest and walk 4 to 5 steps on the department, sit there for some time, and are available again to the nest. This they do for about 15 days. Gradually they enhance the walking distance and begin flapping their wings. When they’ve the boldness to fly, they sit on the sting of a department and take off. But initially, their flights are brief. They fly a little bit and sit on a close-by tree or terrace. After some time, fly once more a small distance and relaxation. Finally, they fly endlessly. Until the chicks take their first flight, the dad and mom hold a watch over them from a distance. If one other hen or cat involves hurt the chicks, they chase it away.
From the time of egg laying until the chicks transfer out of the nest, the black kite is seen doing the identical day by day work. The time to return out and go to the nest, the time to sit down on the department outdoors the nest and its period, the time to convey meals, the way in which they enter the nest, and the time to fly round within the sky at completely different heights are all the identical. If you might be doing any analysis a couple of black kite, it’s going to by no means disappoint you. It follows its day by day routine in such a manner that when you miss one thing to report or overlook to write down, you are able to do it the subsequent day. But that is so long as the eggs and chicks are within the nest. Once the chicks depart the nest, they too depart the nest and don’t return.
Black kites are seen hovering very excessive within the sky, perhaps as a result of they want much less power at top or the temperature is favorable. Their eyes are very sharp like different birds of prey. What a pure surveillance system it’s! During their breeding season, black kites stay very vigilant, attacking not solely different birds and animals that attempt to intrude on their nests but in addition people with their beaks, pondering they might hurt the nest and chicks. No matter the place it comes from, in a second it flies away rapidly after pecking the animal or on the top of people. In Gujarati, the phrase ‘cheelzadap’ is used as a metaphor which describes an individual snatching one thing away from the opposite as speedily as a black kite.
Black Kites consuming a pigeon. (Photo by Harsheev Trushit Naik)
A black kite basks within the solar with its wings unfold in winter to quickly increase its physique temperature. It retains its again within the course of the solar whereas doing this. This pose is known as a horaltic pose. Black kite is usually seen opening and shutting its beak which appears like it’s doing face yoga or yawning. While doing this it additionally strikes its head up and down. It walks like a king from one finish to the opposite on a flat floor equivalent to a parapet.
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Filmmaker Shaunak Sen made a documentary named ‘All That Breathes’, which describes the story of two brothers in Delhi who’re combating to rescue the town’s injured black kites. The documentary was nominated within the Best Documentary Feature Film class at Oscars 2023. As printed in 2022 by The Indian Express, a collapsed dehydrated black kite was rescued from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence in Delhi.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) purple checklist of threatened species lists the Black Kite as a species of least concern.
(Shefali Trushit Naik is an assistant professor on the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Ahmedabad University, and a birdwatcher)
