Red Kite

About the Red Kite

The red kite (Milvus milvus) is a 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. Historically, it was only resident in the milder parts of its range in Western Europe and Northwestern Africa, whereas all or most red kites in Northern mainland Europe wintered to the south and west, some also reaching western Asia, but an increasing number of northern birds now remain in that region year-round. Vagrants have reached north to Finland and south to Israel, Libya and the Gambia.

The English word "kite" is from the Old English cyta which is of unknown origin. A kite is mentioned by Geoffrey Chaucer in his Knight's Tale. The early 15th century Hengwrt manuscript contains the lines: "Ther cam a kyte, whil þt they were so wrothe That bar awey the boon bitwix hem bothe." The first recorded use of the word kite for the human-operated aerial device dates from the 17th century.

The red kite was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema... Wikipedia →