Red kite what do eat

They nests in trees, and in winter, many kites will roost together. From a distance the nests look like rookeries, including the swirling pattern of the birds.

You can see that the birds are not rooks but kites because of the more slender wings, and their forked tail. Red Kites occupy their breeding home range all year. Each nesting territory can contain up to five alternative nest sites.

The nest is built high in a fork or a limb of a tree. We went to see them at Gigrin Farm, near Rhayader in Wales where between and kites visit per day www. Incubation days. Clutch Size 2 eggs. Egg Weight 63 g. Egg Size 57x45 mm.

Red kites are diurnal birds. They are usually seen singly or in pairs, but sometimes may roost in small groups or form small flocks during migration. These raptors prefer to hunt their prey in open areas, flying low above the ground. They will also hunt sitting on a perch for many hours waiting on prey to pass by. When the prey is spotted, the kite will dive bomb to catch it with the talons. Red kites are generally silent; however, their common call is a thin piping sound which birds make in flight and when excited they usually produce a high-pitched 'kiou-ki-ki-ki or 'rriu-rri-rri'.

Red kites are carnivores and scavengers. These birds feed mainly on small mammals such as mice, voles, shrews, young hares, and rabbits. They will also hunt live birds and occasionally reptiles and amphibians. Earthworms form an important part of the diet, especially in spring. Red kites also consume a wide variety of carrion including sheep carcasses and dead game birds. Red kites are monogamous; they mate for life and breed from March till May.

The nest is usually placed in a fork of a large hardwood tree at a height of between 12 and 15 m 39 and 49 ft above the ground. A pair will sometimes use a nest from the previous year and can occasionally occupy an old nest of the common buzzard. The nest is built by both sexes.

The male brings dead twigs that are placed by the female. The nest is lined with grass and sometimes also with sheep's wool. The female lays 1 to 3 eggs but 4 and even 5 eggs have occasionally been recorded. The eggs are non-glossy with a white ground and red-brown spots.

Incubation is mainly done by the female, but the male will relieve her for short periods while she feeds. The male will also bring food for the female. Incubation lasts days. The chicks hatch altricial helpless and are cared for by both parents. The female broods them for the first 14 days while the male brings food to the nest which the female feeds to the chicks.

Later both parents bring items of food that are placed in the nest to allow the chicks to feed themselves. The nestlings begin climbing onto branches around their nest from 45 days; they rarely fledge before days and sometimes not until they are days of age. The young spend a further days near the nest being fed by their parents.

Red kites usually breed for the first time when they are 2 years old, although exceptionally they can successfully breed when they are only 1 year old. The main threats to Red kites include poisoning, through illegal direct poisoning and indirect poisoning from pesticides particularly in the wintering ranges in France and Spain , and changes in agricultural practices causing a reduction in food resources. Other threats include electrocution, hunting and trapping, deforestation, egg-collection and possibly competition with the generally more successful Black kite.

According to the IUCN Red List, the total Red kite population size is around 25,, pairs which are around 50,, mature individuals. As their name suggests, they can be seen gliding through the air like a kite with their wings spread wide, searching for prey in the fields below or for small birds which they can grab from the air as they fly.

Their distinctive screeching call and bright bold feathers make it almost unmistakable and instantly recognisable. These birds of prey where saved from national extinction by a protection program after when the growing rate of self-sustaining breeding populations of Red Kites began to increase and expand across Britain.

Now they have been successfully re-introduced back into England and Scotland. Their rarity made them a target to bounty hunters and egg collectors who robbed up to a quarter of their nests each year. The increase of pesticides and insect repellents used on farms and in fields also became a serious cause of deaths to Kites in the UK. This ended up poisoning a vast number of these birds which consumed many of the insects and small rodents living among the crops and consuming this poison. This has made poisoning the number one most frequent cause of deaths in the UK.

You can often spot them eating a dead carcass at the side of a road as they will frequently look for road kill as an easy food option. The Red Kite will also feed on other chicks and small birds, mammals and insects. They sometimes catch live prey such as young gulls, crows and small rodents, however these animals take up a very small portion of their diet.