Africa Wild

Black-shouldered Kite - taken in Addo.

Black-shouldered kite

Hovering sequence of Black-shouldered Kite.

BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE (ELANUS CAERULEUS)
AFRIKAANS: BLOUVALK

The Black-shouldered Kite is a small, graceful raptor and the most voracious eater in the raptor family.
It needs to consume up to 25% of its body mass every day – that is the equivalent of about two mice.
This means each bird probably kills around 700 mouse-sized animals a year.

Now, Roberts VII estimates there are about 100 000 Black-shouldered Kites in southern Africa, so if we assume each bird takes two mice a day, that adds up to about 70 million mice being consumed by this species alone every year.
Think of how many mice there are out there that are not being eaten!

Although the Black-shouldered Kite is perhaps the most common South African bird of prey, it does not always have much of a presence in Kruger.
It prefers the highveld grasslands probably because prey is easier to see than in the more densely wooded lowveld.
Its appearance in the Park is linked to increases in the local rodent population.

Black-shouldered Kites are solitary hunters by day, yet often roost communally at night.
They usually spend between four and 10 hours a day in flight, but also often hunt from a perch.

One of their characteristics is to hover (air-perch) in one place above the ground searching for prey.

Black-shouldered Kites range widely.
The longest range so far recorded was that of a bird ringed in the former Transvaal and recovered in northern Mozambique, 915km away.
Another bird ringed at the same time was recovered in the opposite direction – in the Cape, 645km away.

:: KRUGER BIRDING ::

Black-shouldered Kites show low mate fidelity (as a result of poor mouse supply) Food comes first

and one more

From my TT: Black-shouldered Kite in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Kgalagadi 19.11.2017

with a kill

Black-Shouldered Kite