BRAHMINY KITE PATCH

In southern and eastern Australia, it is August to October, and April to June in the north and west. The breeding season in South Asia is from December to April. Behaviour Brahminy kite eating, Kabini Reservoir, India However, the species is on the decline in some parts such as Java. It is evaluated as being of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. They are mainly seen in the plains, but can sometimes occur above 5000 feet in the Himalayas. They perform seasonal movements associated with rainfall in some parts of their range. This kite is a familiar sight in the skies of Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and southeast Asia and as far south as New South Wales, Australia, through which region it is widespread and resident. The brahminy kite is about the same size as the black kite ( Milvus migrans) and has a typical kite flight, with wings angled, but its tail is rounded unlike the Milvus species, red kite, and black kite, which have forked tails.

BRAHMINY KITE PATCH

The pale patch on the underwing carpal region is of a squarish shape and separated from Buteo buzzards. The juveniles are browner, but can be distinguished from both the resident and migratory races of black kites in Asia by the paler appearance, shorter wings, and rounded tail. The brahminy kite is distinctive and contrastingly coloured, with chestnut plumage except for the white head and breast and black wing tips. Haliastur indus flavirostris Condon & Amadon, 1954 – Solomon Islands.

Haliastur indus girrenera ( Vieillot, 1822) – New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago and north Australia.

Haliastur indus intermedius Blyth, 1865 – Malay Peninsula, Greater and Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi and the Philippines.

Haliastur indus indus ( Boddaert, 1783) – South Asia.The brahminy kite is now placed with the whistling kite in the genus Haliastur that was erected by the English naturalist Prideaux John Selby in 1840. Neither Brisson nor Buffon included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Falco indus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées.

It was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. The brahminy kite was included by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. He used the French name L'aigle de Pondichery. In 1760, French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson described and illustrated the Brahminy kite in the first volume of his Oiseaux based on a specimen collected in Pondicherry, India. Adults have a reddish-brown body plumage contrasting with their white head and breast which make them easy to distinguish from other birds of prey. They are found mainly on the coast and in inland wetlands, where they feed on dead fish and other prey.

They are found in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Australia. The brahminy kite ( Haliastur indus), also known as the red-backed sea-eagle in Australia, is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors, such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers.