I saw a small bird of prey flying over my school which I am quite sure was a Black Kite. Of course, I wasn't allowed my camera, and I didn't have time to get my binos so I used my friends, which are worse.
When we did get a full view I didn't have the binos, so I only got to see flying away. It had a light brown back, less prominent fork tail and looked a bit like a harrier. In my area, I have only recorded 4 birds of prey, and most of them as expected in a woodland habitat. Red kites and buzzards are regular, than I had one sighting of some peregrines at school and lastly I have a Tawny in my garden.
Anyway, I wasn't very sure, as I obviously didn't have the time to go around the country looking for them and sort of just gave up on rare birds. I was hoping someone might have seen a Black Kite and could help.
Regards, Rishaan
Rishaan, you say you saw a small bird of prey, after watchg and surveying birds of prey for many years I must say that I would not consider a Black Kite a small bird. Size is difficult to judge in the field even for experienced birders
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can
Rishaan Shah said:Actually, I did some research and its light shades could've made it a juvenile Red Kite. The tail was still shallow so I wasn't sure. Sorry, I've never seen a juvenile Red Kite, so if it was one I wouldn't have known.
A juvenile Red kite would be the same size as an adult. Although size is difficult to judge in the field, you also say that it was Sparrowhawk sized - so why wasn't it a Saprrowhawk which is one of the most regularly spotted birds of prey in built up areas?
Hi- Black Kites , like Red Kites look HUGE (and a pair in Britain would be outstandingly almost unbelelievably unlikely :) S
ps - what area of the country is yr School in ?
For advice about Birding, Identification,field guides, binoculars, scopes, tripods, etc - put 'Birding Tips' into the search box