Red Kite
Milvus milvus
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Deeply forked tail, constantly twisting — a bird brought back to Galloway deliberately, and now breeding here.
A large, long-winged raptor with rusty-red body and wing linings, pale grey head and a deeply forked tail that it twists continuously as a rudder. Red kites were extinct across Scotland for over a century; the Galloway Kite Trail near Loch Ken stems from a reintroduction programme begun in 2001, and kites are now a regular sight in the skies north-west of Dumfries.
Behaviour
Kites are primarily scavengers, quartering low and slow over farmland and roadside for carrion, earthworms and scraps, and rarely killing anything larger than a small mammal. The forked tail flexes constantly, giving an unmistakably loose, buoyant flight. They are famously casual nest-builders, decorating the nest with anything portable — plastic bags, cloth, paper — a habit noted by Shakespeare.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Hawks, kites and eagles (Accipitridae)
- Size
- 60–66 cm · wingspan up to 1.8 m
- UK status
- Green-listed
Photo by Hansueli Krapf, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons