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Black Kites are medium-sized raptors with (near-black) dark-brown plumage. The body is dark-brown, except for a small grey patch under each eye, the wings and tail are even darker brown. When seen closely, one can distinguish some barring on the underside of the primary flight feathers. The bill is dark-grey with a yellow base and yellow gape, the legs and feet are also yellow. Juvenile Black Kites have lighter-brown colours.

Twitcher's tip

Black Kites use their tails very actively for various flight manoeuvres. In the process, the tail, which normally is slightly forked, can adopt various shapes, such as a pronounced fork, a "V", a squarish shape or like a wedge. This can make identification by the shape of the tail a bit tricky for beginners.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Black Kite is available HERE .

Black Kites are a species with a wide-ranging distribution. There are several races found on different continents, part of which are migratory and/or dispersive while others are sedentary.

Nominate race "migrans" breed in much of Europe (but not along the coast from the Bretagne to the German Baltic Sea coast, the British Isles or Scandinavia; for details see a field guide) and farther East into Asia, as far as the northern tip of Pakistan. Southward their range extends through almost all of Turkey and into northern Iran and Afghanistan. There is also a breeding population on the north-western African coastal fringe and the Atlas Mountains. Black Kites from the northern breeding grounds will winter along the western Greek coastline, parts of the Middle East, in the Euphrates/Tigris river system and along parts of the Iranian coastline of the Persian Gulf. A large population winters in most of Africa South of the Sahara desert (except central western Africa) and on both sides of the southern Red Sea.

Black Kites, race "affinis", are found in Australia, northern New Guinea and parts of the Indonesian archipelago.

For information on the distributions of races "lineatus", "govinda" and "fomosanus" see a field guide or Wikipedia.

In Oman Black Kites are usually seen as migrants, on their journey between Africa and Asia.

Where to look? How to find this species?

Black Kites are most easily found around rubbish tips. There, and elsewhere, if one sees large numbers of raptors circling together, many (if not all) of them tend to be Black Kites. They are the only species of raptor that will flock together.

Race "migrans"

Race "affinis"