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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!)

moggins

Joined: 24 Feb 2005
Posts: 942
Location: Gloucester

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 9:18 pm Post subject:
Penny I am coming to your workshops then, I've seen eagles in the wild but never a Kite

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46223
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 10:44 pm Post subject:
loads in west yorkshire from the reintroduction / breeding program . they only eat carrion so no stock worries . awesome birds . maybe they spread .

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 10:57 pm Post subject:
Big moves (RSPB etc.) to encourage red kites into SW Scotland (plenty of forests, wild land). I seem to remember hearing that some had bred, which would be great news. Never seen one though. But there was a jay in the orchard earlier today - first I've seen round here for quite a while.

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 06 11:34 pm Post subject:

Red kites just fill me with joy - I grew up knowing all the locations around here of their nests - cos there were very few and all were watched and guarded in my youth - now they are a two a penny delight. If I don't see at least a couple a day it's must be driving rain - and I was thrilled to see some soaring over the M40 on a trip to London. Hope they spread back into the suburbs by the time my children have grown up.

Have to add that OH saw a kingfisher a few days ago - along a well used avenue on the outskirts of Aberystwyth. Surrounded by railway andcranes - there is a lot of building work going on in the town at the moment. How fantasitc was that though.

Blue Peter

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

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 06 11:30 am Post subject:

ruby wrote:

Have to add that OH saw a kingfisher a few days ago - along a well used avenue on the outskirts of Aberystwyth. Surrounded by railway andcranes - there is a lot of building work going on in the town at the moment. How fantasitc was that though.

I saw a kingfisher for the first time on Christmas day, flying along a river near one of the lakes here. At first I thought that it was radio controlled toy, since the blue was so electric that I couldn't believe that it was "natural".

I saw it again a few weeks later. Do they tend to stay in the same area?

Peter.

Penny Outskirts

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

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 06 11:46 am Post subject:

moggins wrote:

Penny I am coming to your workshops then, I've seen eagles in the wild but never a Kite

You'd be very welcome

- saw them on the way in this morning - beautiful things!!!

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