22 May 2012

Did you know these facts about black kites (Milvus migrans)?

• They live on four continents — Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia — but not in North or South America.
• Black kites are probably the most numerous raptor in the world.  Wikipedia says there are 6.7 million of them!
• They eat almost anything: lizards, birds, small mammals and insects.  They even scavenge at garbage dumps.
• Unlike most raptors black kites form huge flocks, especially in winter.
• In Australia black kites flock to eat grasshoppers when there’s a grasshopper plague.  Gulls did this in Utah.
• Black kites are also attracted to smoke and fires because they catch prey escaping the fire.

If you want to see black kites in Pittsburgh, your opportunity is coming soon. The National Aviary’s Sky Deck show features trained black kites who swoop and wheel to catch food in the air.

Sky Deck opens Memorial Day weekend and runs through Labor Day, weather permitting.

(photo of a black kite from Wikimedia Commons. Click on the photo to see the original)