What kind of bird?

[Niel]

Saw this chappie on the fence close to my house ....so can you ID it?

[DOELLOOS]

It are a 'fence-sitter'

[Niel]

'fence-sitter'

Grapgat of eerder n ander naam vir n bulls supporter

[Mud Dog]

Why do you ask when you already know, Niel! ..... You've already looked through your book "Birds of Southern Africa", have'nt you!
I'm guessing a kestrel of some kind?

[Niel]

Why do you ask when you already know,

I give my Sasol birdbook to someone (can't remember who) and now I am without one - I know very little re: birds.

[Mud Dog]

That surprises me! :wth: ..... a nature lover like yourself .... and no bird book!!??
I don't know what happened to mine ..... also without ..... will just have to wait for someone who knows.

[Niel]

I don't know what happened to mine ..... also without

look who's talking
Will google it a bit later.

[Mud Dog]

Good luck!

[OOOOMS]

I know very little re: birds.

U didn't need to tell us that......

[Niel]

I was waiting for the comments ....

[OOOOMS]

Saw this chappie on the fence

At first I thought you were referring to gum...till I saw the pic!

[Niel]

you tell me if this is it?
http://www.pbase.com/laumakani/image/119790724

[Niel]

ok, it seems not:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-shouldered_Kite
Black-shouldered Kite
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Black-shouldered Kite

At Samsonvale Cemetery, SE Queensland
Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Accipitriformes

Family: Accipitridae

Genus: Elanus

Species: E. axillaris

Binomial name
Elanus axillaris
(Latham, 1802)
The Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris) or Australian Black-shouldered Kite is a small raptor found in open habitat throughout Australia and should not be confused with the Black-winged Kite, which is also called Black-shouldered Kite. Like all the elanid kites, it is a specialist predator of rodents.

Contents [hide]
1 Taxonomy
2 Description
3 Distribution and habitat
4 Food and hunting
5 Flight
6 References


[edit] Taxonomy
The name "Black-shouldered Kite" was formerly used for a Eurasian and African species, Elanus caeruleus, and the Australian bird (and also a North American species, the White-tailed Kite Elanus leucurus) was treated as a subspecies of this. However, the three species are now regarded as distinct, and the name Black-winged Kite is used for E. caeruleus. Modern references to the Black-shouldered Kite should therefore unambiguously mean the Australian species.

[edit] Description
Black-Shouldered Kites are around 35 to 38 cm in length and have a wingspan of between 80 and 95 cm. Adults are a very pale grey with a white head and white underparts. The leading edge of the inner wing is black. When perched, this gives them their prominent black "shoulders". It has a squared tail, and like all birds, a streamlined aerodynamic body.

[edit] Distribution and habitat
Although reported from almost all parts of Australia, they are most common in the relatively fertile south-east and south-west corners of the mainland, and in south-east Queensland.They are also common throughout Southern Africa. They are rare in the deep desert and appear to be only accidental visitors to northern Tasmania and the Torres Strait islands. Although found in timbered country, they are mainly birds of the grasslands. European occupation of Australia has, on the whole, benefited them by clearing vast expanses of forest for agriculture and providing suitable conditions for much larger numbers of mice.

[edit] Food and hunting

HuntingBlack-shouldered Kites live almost exclusively on mice. They take other suitably-sized creatures when available, including grasshoppers, rats, small reptiles, birds, and even (very rarely) rabbits, but mice and other mouse-sized mammals account for over 90% of their diet. Their influence on mouse populations is probably significant: adults take two or three mice a day each if they can, and on one occasion a male was observed bringing no less than 14 mice to a nest of well-advanced fledglings within an hour.

Like other elanid kites, Black-shouldered Kites hunt by quartering grasslands for small creatures. This can be from a perch (usually a dead tree, as illustrated above), but more often by hovering in mid-air with conspicuous skill and little apparent effort. Typically, a kite will hover 10 to 50 metres above a particular spot, peering down intently, sometimes for only a few seconds, often for a minute or more, then glide swiftly to a new vantage point and hover again.

When a mouse or other prey is spotted, the kite drops silently onto it, feet-first with wings raised high; sometimes in one long drop to ground level, more often in two or more stages, with hovering pauses at intermediate heights. About two-thirds of attacks are successful. Prey can either be eaten in flight or carried back to a perch.

[edit] Flight
The black-shouldered kite spirals into the wind like a Kestrel. It can soar fast, wings in a V shape. This kite flaps slowly and deeply, which bounces its body. The black shouldered kite can most often be seen hovering with its tail pointing down.

[OOOOMS]

Pretty close thought Niel, the one in your pic looks smaller :problem:

[Mud Dog]

Looks very similar Niel ..... was about to ask if it's habitat includes the southern / western Cape .... wonder if the guy escaped from an aviary or if it's a different bird .....

[Niel]

Mark the pic was taken from my stoep and the birdie (no gum) was approx 60/70m away from me.

I live at the back/end of the reserve and these are the birds of pray they say one find in this area. I saw a pic of a pigmy falcon but the habitat is wrong for it to be that.

http://www.westerncapeaccommodation.co. ... re-reserve

who needs a book these days :shifty:

[OOOOMS]

In the future the training centre's will be offering the following course:

How to take your lap-top for a walk.....

....man, I hope I never see that day :!:

[Bosfebok]

Dit is 'n jong Blou valkie! (Blackshouldered Kite)

http://dts.co.za/blogs/Blog-20081122/Bl ... %20002.jpg

[Niel]

got a closer look at the gum eating draadsitter this evening

[Mud Dog]

If it's not the black shouldered kite, then it's his brother! Maybe they exist here as well, even though it's not their native habitat. They could have been introduced here to curb some form of infestation, or have escaped from an aviary or breeding program ..... the possible reasons for it being here are many.

[Bosfebok]

'n Blouvalk dit is...'n jongetjie...definitief...

[Petrusd]

'n Blouvalk dit is...'n jongetjie...definitief...

+1