Category: Black-shouldered Kite

As you know, we’ve been following a young pair of Black-shouldered Kites for the past few weeks.

Earlier this year, a number of pairs nested in the same genera area, about the same time. Probably more like a three to four week span.
One pair in what we shall call the ‘home territory’ were in the later shift, and managed to raise and fly two young. At about the same time, the birds from the surrounding areas, moved into the home territory to feed and train their young. With four set of parents and their various offspring the paddocks had as many as 16 birds in the air hunting. Fortunately the mice seemed to have had their own population explosion and there was plenty of food to go round.

But as time went on, as things go with Kites, the young began to disperse and the adults moved on for a well deserved rest. In the end, the home territory male was still in residence, and two young kites that we concluded must be the young from his recent clutch.

Young siblings are happy to sit and hunt together and this couple seemed to be happy with their company. As the days went on, and the young orange feathers began to fade away, it became clear this pair were not moving on at all. And perhaps slowly it became even clearer that they were not siblings, but a young pair. No doubt with all the birds in the feeding frenzy, this pair had made an interesting selection.
Too early yet to know if they will stay and nest, but they certainly seem to have established several roost trees as their own.

Pair bonding with Kites is both a high activity and loud process. We found them practicing the techniques they will need for food exchange should they settle on a clutch. It looks pretty aggressive and serious, but they each seemed to know the part they have to play.
And a little later I found them sitting together on the nearby track, hunting crickets on the ground.

Hopefully there will be more to share of this story.

Enjoy

Many will know I’ve mentioned my theory about Brown Falcon’s ability to ‘map’ out an area and fly, following that internal map.

I came across an article in The Smithsonian Magazine recently titled, Why Do Some People Always Get Lost.

The interesting part to me is toward the end and titled Mental Mappers. I can’t provide a direct link, and it’s a long scroll down. It refers to “….the specific skills that are hallmarks of good navigators These include the ability to estimate how far you’ve traveled, to read and remember maps (both printed and mental), to learn routes based on a sequence of landmarks and to understand where points are relative to one another.” ” Two of those skill are ‘Route Following’ and …and what’s often termed ‘survey knowledge,’ the ability to build and consult a mental map of a place.”

When my Mother-in-Law was getting on in years the family pointed out she was unable to move around on her own as, “She didn’t know where she was.” Now, I had to take exception to that as I’d travelled about with her quite extensively and was more than confident in her ability to go from home, to the shops, pick up a bottle of milk and return safely. And to venture in and out of several stores along the route. I discovered that they were judging her lack of ability because they had taken her to a shopping centre she’d never been to before and she had asked, “So, how do you get out of here?” I’m certain I’d have done the same. New place, new location, no mind-map.

As a young tacker, I grew up with a highly respected bushman. He could wander about for hours and still know where he was, where the start point might be, or the next spot to go visit. His simple secret was he named locations as he went along. Easy to remember names, like places, “The Eiffel Tower”, “The Burnt Log”, “Wombat’s Home”, and others. The landmarks would be no more than 200-500meters apart. So if he was somewhere, all he had to do was find one of his landscape features and follow back from there. When I walk the Eynesbury Forest, or the Woodlands Historic Park, I still use that system.

I’ve sat for an hour so so with so many Brown Falcon’s and watched them watching. Then when they fly, it’s a deliberate run at almost ground level, to swoop on something, or onto the next chosen perch. As they slip past a bush here, around a plant there, through an opening in the grass, it’s hard not to be impressed at their mapping ability.

And just in case you never leave home without GPS, here is a conclusion from the study.

…A follow-up with 13 of the volunteers three years later revealed that those who had used GPS the most during the intervening period experienced greater declines in their ability to navigate without GPS, strongly suggesting that GPS reliance causes diminished skills, rather than poor skills leading to greater GPS use.

We’ve also been following a pair of Black-shouldered Kites. They fledged two young about two months ago, and the young, as normal have now moved away. As soon as her young fledge, the female usually hands responsibility of their care and feeding to the male. She then takes a few weeks extended leave, and goes off to replenish her system from the 8 weeks or so of sitting on the nest.
For some reason this female had not returned for about two months. Her male kept station and I was beginning to think he was on his own.
However the other day, we found them both hunting in the paddock.
The picture on this page is of her sweeping in with a catch. Not sure if she took the mouse, or if he’d passed it on to her. Will have to wait to see what, if anything develops.

I’ve lamented in a few places the past couple of weeks, that we have been a bit bird depleted.
Many of the areas where we normally work, seem to be quiet to a point.

Over the past few months most of the Black-shouldered Kites, that we have followed for a number of years, have finished nesting and have departed along with their fledged young to places far-flung. Hard to understand what has changed. The food seems plentiful, the weather I have to admit is anything but helpful, and perhaps as autumn is around the corner, the birds know things that we are not privy to.

At Point Cook, one pair has had around 5 clutches over the past couple of years. But they too have fledged the young and the trees and paddocks are empty. The female normally would leave the nest area as soon as the young are ready to fledge and bulk up and return a couple of weeks later and begin to plan the next clutch. This time she doesn’t seem to have returned. Perhaps, she has grown a bit tired of this nesting business and is looking for a break.

The male, to his credit, has maintained his station in the area. But each time we pass by, I wonder if he will still around.

We were travelling a local back road the other day, and spied a lone white shape high up on an old tree. EE cried, Black-shouldered Kite.
We didn’t have time to explore, but were going the same way a couple of days later and stopped for a looksee. And there we found a pair resting in the same general area. She was quite vocal and in the end he got the message and took off down the paddock, presumably to collect an offering for her.

The morning was very overcast and now I was left with light-grey and white birds on a milky grey backdrop.
I had been thinking of setting the camera to Black and White mode so decided to see what would happen. This one was shot with the “Red Filter” setting—makes the red eye of the bird a little lighter grey.

Be interesting to go back again, particularly after this bout of hot weather, to see if they have intent to nest,or if it was just a nomadic rest spot.