Red Kite

 The 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐞 (𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐮𝐬) is a 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐮𝐦-𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 bird of prey in the family 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐞, which also includes many other 𝐝𝐢𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 such as 𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐳𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬, and 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬. The species currently breeds only in 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞, though it formerly also bred in 𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐬𝐢𝐚 and 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚.The red kite was described by the 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐞𝐮𝐬 in 𝟏𝟕𝟓𝟖 in the 𝟏𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 of his 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐚 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐞 under the 𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐮𝐬.

Red kites are 𝟔𝟎 to 𝟕𝟎 𝐜𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 with a 𝟏𝟕𝟓–𝟏𝟗𝟓 𝐜𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐧,𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 weigh 𝟖𝟎𝟎–𝟏,𝟐𝟎𝟎 𝐠, and 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝟏,𝟎𝟎𝟎–𝟏,𝟑𝟎𝟎 𝐠.The 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲, 𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 and 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐬 are 𝐫𝐮𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐬. 

The red kites are 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 and  𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬. Their diet consists mainly of 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 of 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 such as 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐩 and 𝐩𝐢𝐠𝐬, 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬, and 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡. They also take 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐬 such as 𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐞, 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐬, 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 and 𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐬.𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬 are also taken, especially 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 or 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝, such as 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬, 𝐝𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬, 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬, 𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐬, and 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐬.Occasionally 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 and 𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 are taken and 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 such as 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 form an important part of the diet.

Red kites inhabit 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐟 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐦𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲𝐬 and  𝐰𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬, up to at least 𝟏,𝟔𝟎𝟎 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬 elevation.They are native to the 𝐰𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜.