Mobbing a kite

Author
Discussion

Derek Smith

Original Poster:

45,514 posts

247 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
I was at Chobham rugby club today and saw what I think was a red kite being mobbed by black birds.

I was looking at the kite - it was magnificent - when two smaller black birds flew towards it, forcing it to change direction. As the kite came back towards the pitch, the two birds flew at it. There was nothing subtle. It was still a bit one-sided. Then four other black birds approached, circling above the little contretemps.

The birds kept attacking and at one time it looked as if the kite tried to peck one but it was too quick.

Emboldened, the other four came in and the kite cleared off towards the M25.

Fascinating.

The black birds might have been small crows.


Dr Mike Oxgreen

4,101 posts

164 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
Definitely crows. They'll mob all sorts of larger birds that they see as a threat, including herons as well.

NormalWisdom

2,139 posts

158 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
They are magnificent. In the summer we buy chicken wings and spread them round the garden and sit and watch the kites. One spots the "carrion", calls in his chums and then they feast - We've had 15-20 circling overhead. I then set-up the camera and here's one of the results.


Evanivitch

19,808 posts

121 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
There's a red kite feeding station in mid Wales, they just chuck down loads of meat and dozens come wheeling in and collecting before flying off. The crows are definitely at the back of the queue in these numbers!

CAPP0

19,533 posts

202 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
Last weekend I was on top of the Downs ad there were two largish birds of prey just cruising the thermals below us. They were probably 100-200 yards away so difficult to make out detail but the tops of the wings were very copper/red. Likely to have been kites?

Smollet

10,466 posts

189 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
CAPP0 said:
Last weekend I was on top of the Downs ad there were two largish birds of prey just cruising the thermals below us. They were probably 100-200 yards away so difficult to make out detail but the tops of the wings were very copper/red. Likely to have been kites?
Could be buzzards although they aren't very copper/red

clarkmagpie

3,559 posts

194 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
NormalWisdom said:
They are magnificent. In the summer we buy chicken wings and spread them round the garden and sit and watch the kites. One spots the "carrion", calls in his chums and then they feast - We've had 15-20 circling overhead. I then set-up the camera and here's one of the results.

Fantastic!

nickwilcock

1,522 posts

246 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
People need to note the following advice if they intend to feed red kites:

http://www.redkites.net/section72403_17684.html

That said, there is pair around here which certainly look magnificent when soaring - although occasionally mobbed by smaller birds.

Derek Smith

Original Poster:

45,514 posts

247 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
Definitely crows. They'll mob all sorts of larger birds that they see as a threat, including herons as well.
Thanks for that. It was the general consensus but they were too high for anyone but a twitcher to be sure.

It was fighters attacking a bomber. The crows were much more agile in the air and seemed to be predicting the flight pattern of the kite. One would suddenly dive on the kite but allowing deflection.

The kite looked beautiful in flight.

battered

4,088 posts

146 months

Friday 28th October 2016
quotequote all
I've seen this to the N of Leeds where there is a good population of kites. The crows take exception to them and gang up on them until they disappear. I think it's great that a once-extinct species has come back to such an extent that the existing birds now feel the need to chase them away.

I find it interesting that kites are so social. There are huge populations of them in the Chilterns to the S of Oxford, to the extent that you would imagine that they would run out of food and be forced to look elsewhere. Yet you travel a few miles, an easy flight for a bird, and they haven't yet moved in there.

weeboot

1,063 posts

98 months

Friday 28th October 2016
quotequote all
Evanivitch said:
There's a red kite feeding station in mid Wales, they just chuck down loads of meat and dozens come wheeling in and collecting before flying off. The crows are definitely at the back of the queue in these numbers!
http://www.gigrin.co.uk/

BigMon

4,155 posts

128 months

Friday 28th October 2016
quotequote all
Fantastic. I love seeing birds of prey in the wild. What a beautiful creature.

I've never seen kites but when I first moved to Devon I loved driving through the South Hams and seeing buzzards flying or sitting on various poles.

Also saw a merlin (alas, only once) whilst driving to my friend's barn.

More pictures please!

Rumblestripe

2,916 posts

161 months

Friday 28th October 2016
quotequote all
My father is a member of the RSPB and teeters on the verge of "twicherdom". He told me a tale from the early days of the reintroduction of the Red Kites in the North of England. There was a particular pigeon fancier (yes some stereotypes are true, he also wore a whippet cap and a donkey jacket, probably) who was a vociferous opponent of the reintroduction thinking that Brer Red Kite would be feasting on racing pigeon night and day. He was assured that they were carrion feeders not takers of live prey...

About six months after the reintroduction he was visited by a representative of the RSPB who found that he was now feeding the kites and with great pride would show people "his" Red Kites.

Nightmare

5,182 posts

283 months

Saturday 29th October 2016
quotequote all
Can be a bit of a risk for the crows as opposed to their usual mobbing of buzzards (proper bomber!)

I've posted this before but have witnessed a crow and red kite actually tangling in the air which resulted in two halves of a crow hitting the floor about twenty feet from my car. I very much doubt it was a deliberate move by the kite tho

951TSE

600 posts

156 months

Saturday 29th October 2016
quotequote all
CAPP0 said:
Last weekend I was on top of the Downs ad there were two largish birds of prey just cruising the thermals below us. They were probably 100-200 yards away so difficult to make out detail but the tops of the wings were very copper/red. Likely to have been kites?
The easy way to tell a kite from a buzzard or indeed most other raptors is that the kite usually has a pronounced fork to it's tail, not quite as much as a swallow but still noticeable at a distance. The buzzard and others are much more rounded.

Patch1875

4,893 posts

131 months

Sunday 30th October 2016
quotequote all
clarkmagpie said:
NormalWisdom said:
They are magnificent. In the summer we buy chicken wings and spread them round the garden and sit and watch the kites. One spots the "carrion", calls in his chums and then they feast - We've had 15-20 circling overhead. I then set-up the camera and here's one of the results.

Fantastic!
Agree! Superb!!

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Sunday 30th October 2016
quotequote all
Have seen buzzards mob a red kite. And at Gigrin, the Kites wheel in for the food and nab it and feed on the wing and the buzzards just hop around nabbing the food.

battered

4,088 posts

146 months

Sunday 30th October 2016
quotequote all
I had some work near Oxford in summer '15. One Sunday night I came round a corner at "enjoying a windy B road" speed to find a dead fox in the road that had been discovered by at least 15 kites. On the ground, feeding, they looked like vultures. It was quite disturbing to watch as they all lumbered out of the way and took off at my approach.

PostHeads123

1,042 posts

134 months

Monday 31st October 2016
quotequote all
I'm very lucky and a family of 4 Red Kites live in my area and I see them pretty much everyday flying over the gardens, pretty sure though they do go for the cats, as since moved here they have come in with a few ear pecked injuries.

battered

4,088 posts

146 months

Monday 31st October 2016
quotequote all
I thought they only fed on carrion?