What red kites eat to where red kites nest, how long red kites live for and what a red kites call sounds like, this red kite fact file will tell you almost everything you need to know about them.
As always, I write the scripts for these videos and here is what I used below (minus a couple of sentences as I went over KZfaqs letter count):
Following years of unwarranted persecution and egg collection red kites actually went extinct in England and Scotland in the 1870s and by the turn of the 20th century, there were only a handful of pairs left in remote central wales. However, following increased legal protection and the release of 6 birds from wales and 82 birds from Spain into a region of central England, red kite numbers have soared over the past 30 years. There are now thought to be as many as 6,000 pairs in Britain. They have also been reintroduced to northern Ireland where their numbers are rising but there are still less than 100 pairs.
Red kites are large birds with a wingspan of around 5 feet and growing to weights of up to 2 and a half pounds. That’s 152 cm and 1.1 kilos. Their wings have 5 black finger like feathers protruding from each end, a white band and the birds have hazel shoulders and chests. They have silvery grey heads with small yellow hooked beaks and their most noticeable feature is their forked tail. If you get to see this from above or behind, it has a reddy brown colour.
Red kites are a predominantly lowland species, relying on a mixed habitat with open farmland, valleys or wetlands for finding food and mature broadleaf woodland for nesting and roosting. Their diet is mainly made up of carrion and roadkill, they are not well equipped to tackle larger living prey but they do sometimes take young and small birds, and rodents. They will also eat invertebrates such as beetles and worms, especially during the springtime.
Red kites reach sexual maturity at between 2 and 4 years of age. At this point they will begin to pair up and will construct up to 5 twig platform nests, high in the forks of a deciduous tree within their small territory. Once decorating is complete, the female will lay between 1 and 4 blotchy cream coloured eggs that measure just over 5 and a half centimetres long. Incubation takes 31 to 32 days, when the white down covered chicks emerge. For the first two weeks the female stays with the young chicks whilst the male brings food for her and for the growing youngsters. During this time competition between the young can be fierce and it isn’t unknown for the oldest chick to kill and eat the youngest. After 2 weeks the mother joins the father in bringing the chicks food and from 45 days the young birds begin to branch out from the nest, often just to nearby twigs. After 50 to 70 days the young are ready to fully fledge then spend a further 15 to 20 days in the area of the nest being fed and taught by their parents. After this, they often go on large journeys sometimes hundreds of miles from their site of hatching, only returning to the area when they themselves are ready to breed.
Outside of the UK, red kites are also found in across central Europe, particularly, France, Germany, Spain and Italy and they are also resident in a small part of Morocco. In the winter European birds migrate to the southern parts of their rage but in the UK they are mostly resident all year round.
Red kites have an average life expectancy, if they make it to the point of fledging, of around 10 years with the oldest known wild bird surviving to 26 years.
Some of the footage used in this video was obtained using creative commons licences. The originals and licence details are below:
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Eggs: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_kite
Thumbnail: www.geograph.org.uk/photo/604...