After a break of many years, I have just had the pleasure of seeing black kites in the wild again today. I saw them along the Danube (Donau) in Bavaria a number of times in the 1990s. They had a wonderfully agile flight that looked a lot better than that of a red kite. I have just seen a lot of them (up to 5 at a time) near my hotel in Hyderabad.
My digital camera is just a simple one with a limited zoom and autofocus so the quality is not great!
The black kite has a tail that is less forked than that of the red kite. It does not have such distinctive dark and light patches on the wings as the red kite and lacks the rusty coloured head plumage. It is mainly a dark brown. Head on they tend to hold their wings roughly horizontally (unlike a buzzard whose wings are held tilted up) and there is a slight upward curl near the wingtip.
Just got the photos in time as the heavens have opened!
The Hawk Conservancy in Hampshire has a very interesting black kite flying display that shows their agility. The owner, Ashley Smith, shoots bait into the air and can get a group of kites to fly together or to do a starburst.
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2007-08-05 @ 16:02