Alice Springs Desert Park
A medium-sized bird of prey, the Black Kite (Milvus migrans) is an opportunistic hunters, that is more likely to scavenge as they soar and glide effortlessly on the winds in search of food.
They have been sighted catching insects on the wing and are attracted to any fires, often seen wheeling above and through the smoke, whilst keeping an eye out ahead of the fire-front for small creatures fleeing the flames.
They appear almost black from a distance, with a light brown bar on the shoulder. The plumage is a dark brown, with light brown and rufous markings, on the head, neck and underparts. They have angled wings and a distinctive forked tail, barred with darker brown. The eyes are dark brown and the bill is black with a yellow cere (area of skin around the nostrils).
Both male and female are similar. The young Black Kites are usually lighter in colour to the adults, with a comparatively shallower forked tail.
More information in Birds > Birds of Prey | Black Kite (Milvus migrans) and Black Kite at the Alice Springs Ponds.
Images © Dorothy L
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves
- Order: Accipitriformes
- Family: Accipitridae
- Genus: Milvus
- Species: Milvus migrans
Footnote & References
- Black Kite, Australian Museum, https://australian.museum/learn/animals/birds/black-kite/
- Milvus migrans, Black Kite, Museums Victoria Collections, https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/species/5765
- Black Kite (Milvus migrans), Society for the PReservation of Raptors (Inc), http://www.raptor.org.au/mmigrans.html
ASDP BirdsASDP Birds Index Australian Boobook Owl Australian Bustard Australian Hobby Banded Lapwing Barn Owl Black Kite Black-breasted Buzzard Black-faced Woodswallow Black-fronted Dotterel Bourke’s Parrot Brown Falcon Emu Galah Inland Dotterel Orange Chat Pied Honeyeater Princess Parrot Rainbow Bee-eater Red-capped Robin Spinifex Pigeon Splendid Fairy-wren Tawny Frogmouth Wedge-tailed Eagle Western Bowerbird Whistling Kite White-faced Heron White-winged Fairywren
ASDP FaunaASDP Arachnida ASDP Spiders ASDP Birds ASDP Insects ASDP Marsupials ASDP Mammals ASDP Reptiles Monotreme – Short-beaked Echidna
Alice Springs Desert ParkFauna Flora Nature Theatre Nocturnal House