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Red Kite

Milvus milvus

Least Concern (IUCN Red List)Hawks, Eagles, and Kites
Red Kite, photographed by Phil Robson

Photo: Phil Robson · Unsplash · Unsplash License (licence)

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Call and song

About the Red Kite

Distinctive large, graceful raptor with a fairly long, forked, rusty-orange tail. Flies with easy languid wingbeats and lazy glides, circling gracefully over fields and roadsides. Can be confused with Black Kite; note overall more reddish coloration, paler face, larger white patches on the underwings, and more deeply forked tail. Inhabits varied semiopen habitats, from woodland to farmland and moorland with hedges and wooded patches; locally in urban areas. Often scavenges with crows.

Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made

Where it has been recorded

Recorded in 57 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.

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