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Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 3:33 pm Post subject: Big Bird
Anyone know if it's likely that I and a colleague have seen a red kite (bird) around here (in a field between Milton Keynes and Salford - local village- to be precise), Peter.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 3:40 pm Post subject:
A good possibility: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/r/redkite/index.asp

Shane

Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 3467
Location: Doha. Is hot.

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 3:44 pm Post subject:

RSPB wrote:

In England, red kites have been re-introduced to four areas since 1989: the Chilterns, East Midlands, Yorkshire and north-east England

More details here.

So, not impossible that it was indeed a red kite!

Shane

Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 3467
Location: Doha. Is hot.

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 3:44 pm Post subject:
Damn - beaten to it!

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 3:44 pm Post subject:
We have a pair of kites near our workshop (gloucestershire) it's wonderful to watch them, there flight is unmistakable. Was a Kite called a kite because it flys like a kite or vise versa? (on re-reading that it makes no sense whatsoever hope you get my meaning!!)

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 3:45 pm Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

A good possibility: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/r/redkite/index.asp

But more likely to be a buzzard. It was too dark, sighting was too quick to see whether it looked red,

Peter.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 3:47 pm Post subject:
The forked tail is a big pointer.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 3:47 pm Post subject:

Blue Peter wrote:

But more likely to be a buzzard. It was too dark, sighting was too quick to see whether it looked red,

If you are familiar with buzzards, then there is no way you will confuse one with a red kite. The tails are so different, they hold their wings differently and the flight patterns are different.

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 3:54 pm Post subject:

Judith wrote:

Blue Peter wrote:

But more likely to be a buzzard. It was too dark, sighting was too quick to see whether it looked red,

If you are familiar with buzzards, then there is no way you will confuse one with a red kite. The tails are so different, they hold their wings differently and the flight patterns are different.

I'm not familiar with any birds. We've both only seen it on our journeys into work, so very briefly, and in my case in poor light. To me (who knows nothing), it looked like a small eagle (don't laugh).

The balance of probabilities would suggest the buzzard. I'll put that to my colleague (who is more clued-up and suggested the red kite) when he returns,

Peter.

Will

Joined: 30 Jun 2005
Posts: 571
Location: Grenoside, Sheffield

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 3:56 pm Post subject:
Buzzards soar with very straight wings and a squared off tail, whereas kites tumble and swoop with the wings held back a bit and have forked tails. Kites are fantastic birds - we had a very memorable walk in the Chilterns a few years ago where we got buzzed by them a couple of times. Statistically it's much more likely to be a buzzard as well.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 3:57 pm Post subject:
Definitely look for the tail feathers then, and forget about the colouring - it will almost certainly be too far away to tell properly. If it has forked tail feathers then it is a kite, if they are blunt and rounded, then it is a buzzard.

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 4:09 pm Post subject:

Judith wrote:

Definitely look for the tail feathers then, and forget about the colouring - it will almost certainly be too far away to tell properly. If it has forked tail feathers then it is a kite, if they are blunt and rounded, then it is a buzzard.

My actual viewing of the bird (not counting where a dark shadow passed through my view), it was on the ground, probably only about 20 or 30 feet away. I think that my colleague saw it perched in a tree.

I also heard a bird sound on the way home (very dark) which I think might have been it (but I can't remember what it sounded like),

Peter.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 4:10 pm Post subject:

Blue Peter wrote:

I also heard a bird sound on the way home (very dark) which I think might have been it (but I can't remember what it sounded like),

Buzzard makes a sort of mewing sound. Don't know what a kite sounds like.

Blue Peter

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 2400
Location: Milton Keynes

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 4:17 pm Post subject:

Judith wrote:

Blue Peter wrote:

I also heard a bird sound on the way home (very dark) which I think might have been it (but I can't remember what it sounded like),

Buzzard makes a sort of mewing sound. Don't know what a kite sounds like.

Mewing and/or whistling according to the RSPB site,

Peter.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 6:24 pm Post subject:

Buzzards sound like pathetic little kittens, or something - a bit daft for a big match bird, but there you go!

If you want to see red kites for sure, either have a whizz down the M40, and keep you eyes open around stokenchurch, or if you want to make a day of it, I can give you a map for a lovely circular walk in the same area (complete with pub lunch reccomendations) where you will be falling over them! I;ve never seen a red kite looking very red, as they are always airbourne, and have the light behind them, but the V in the tail is very distinctive. I once saw them displaying (or possibly fighting) over the M40 - they do look like eagles, with their claws locked together, tumbling landwards - amazing (no, I wasn't driving!)

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