Birds Around Me 0160 - Black Kite काली चील (Milvus migrans)

The king of urban skies - "Pariah or Black Kite (काली चील) - Milvus migrans", you can find these birds soaring above urban landscape all over India. In the middle of New Delhi, you could actually see 100s of Black Kites. Every time I go to India, the population of these birds catches my attention, it's growing along with other birds like Wood Pigeon and Crows.

The Pariah or Black Kite (काली चील) - Milvus migrans live in the neighbourhood of human habitations and depend for their livelihood chiefly on the artificial conditions created by the man. It is a large brown hawk easily distinguished from all other similar birds by its forked tail, a feature particularly noticeable in flight. Numbers are always present near slaughter houses, fish and meat markets, refuse dumps and docks for any bits that they can pick up. The ease and grace with which a kite will make its lightning swoop to carry off a dead rat or bit of food from narrow street, turning and twisting to avoid pedestrians is something amazing to watch.

The photograph in this post was taken when around 20+ kites were soaring over the fields behind my home in Jabalpur. It was a shame that the sky wasn't clear for the crisp click but was worthwhile watching Black Kites soaring all around. I've never seen such a number at a particular location and then saw 100s of them flying above a garbage dump in Delhi.

Hindi Name of the Black Kite (Milvus migrans): काली चील

Birds Around Me - Unfinished List (अपूर्ण सूची): https://birds.rekabira.in/p/this-is-list-of-birds-i-clicked-since.html

Ashutosh Jhureley @BirdsAroundMe