Kite vs Buzzard

Took my brother and his kids over to see the kites been fed at Gigrin last Thursday. Whilst sat in the hides watching the hundreds of birds diving in for food he expressed amazement at how they never collided. A short time late, whilst heading back home, my mobile went and it was Colin at Gigrin ringing to say they had a kite with a broken wing in the feeding area. It turns out that seconds after we left a kite stooping in for a meal had hit a Buzzard leaving after eating its! Anyone whose ever handled a Buzzard will know that they are a pretty solid bit of raptor! Anyway end result was an unfortunate kite with the outer half of its wing sticking out at not a good angle! Luckily my brother was heading back to Telford so could drop the kite off at Much Wenlock where Megan Morris Jones at Cuan House Wildlife Centre had arranged to get it checked out by her local vets. The bird was x-rayed but, as I had feared, the break was in the carpal joint, and these do not heal without causing permanent stiffening of the wing which renders the bird virtually flightless. Sadly, as our policy is one of no permanent retention, the bird was euthanised immediately .

That's got to be over 100 in Kite years!

We have a new longevity record for a Welsh ringed kite, at 8,723 days or about six weeks under 24 years.

HT27208 was ringed as a single chick in a nest near Ffarmers in Carmarthenshire on 17th June 1988 and was also tagged White H. It weighed 860gm, and was subsequently sexed as a female from the blood sample collected at the same time. She was found freshly dead on 5th May 2012 at near Harford which is about 9.5km SSW of where she was reared.

There is quite a long list of tag sightings in the early years. In the first winter she was seen at Ty'n-domen, Tregaron (the original Red Kite feeding station set up by Frances Evans)  (8,5km N) on nine occasions between 21st November 1988 and 1st March 1989. In the first summer she was at Cwm Ystwyth (26km NNE) on 16th May 1989  and she was recorded there again in her third winter on 14th January 1991

In her third summer she was fouind breeding near Pumsaint, 9km S of the birthplace and reared a brood of two.

She bred again at the same place in 1992, rearing a single chick. She had a new mate, a tagged bird from near Cwrt-y-cano, HT27225, also reared in 1988. She had now lost one tag. She could have bred at the same place in 1993, but if so had lost both tags, and there were no further tag readings. Of course it's now pretty obvious that she must have continued to breed in the area for many more years. This bird beats the previous longevity record by about six weeks. That was a male HW08418 which was ringed near Pontrhydfendigaid in 1968 and which died near  Tregaron, probably in mid-March 1992.

Thanks to Peter Davis for the above information. Amazingly, I can still remember tagging this bird as I'm pretty sure there was a Kestrel's nest lower down in the same tree!

Footnote

The previous post relates to an incident on 17th April.  The good news is that the bird has since been released fit and well and the surprise attack has not been repeated...yet!

CANADA GOOSE ATTACKS RED KITE!

I fed the kites yesterday at Bwlch Nant yr Arian and we had a great turnout of approx 100 hungry birds. There are some canada geese nesting on a tiny island between the grass feeding area and the main viewing spit of land opposite. During the feeding frenzy, one unfortunate kite got a bit too close to the island and one of the geese flew in to the kite on purpose. The kite crashed in to the lake just in front of the spectators with the goose in hot pursuit. The goose then landed on top of the kite and tried to drown it. The kite was struggling to get to the side of the lake with the goose repeatedly attempting to push it under. The attack lasted for about a minute. 

Sarah Cookson pulled the kite out and we tried to dry it off and warm it up in the foot well of my car. After an hour it didn't improve. I took the bird down to Llanbadarn Vets and left it with them. They will contact Tony Cross at some stage - hopefully the bird can make a full recovery!

Andre Marsh

Sometimes they hit the ground

At Talsarn recently Susanna witnessed at close range a kite flying into the ground at feeding time and stunning itself. It hit breast first fortunately so after a rest it recovered enough to fly off strongly so nothing broken. Susanna said it was the first ever in 15 years to misjudge the slope of the field and no, it wasn't the one-eyed one!

Kite watchers meeting Feb 26th

Tony reading his script to a rapt audience...no it was good really! Watchers met in the convivial surroundings of the Elan Valley Hotel and were kept up to date with the Trust and all its workings. Contributions from guest speakers included Steve Roberts on Honey Buzzards, always fascinating to hear plus this year he had a first class video courtesy of the BBC;those chicks are so attractive even when eating frogs' legs! Paddy Jenks also added some insights into Kestrel breeding and drew on new data from radio-tagging showing that kestrels don't even put the brakes on for improved pasture,flying straight on to any patch of tussocky grassland which unfortunately is still disappearing fast.
Other short talks were given by Leo Smith our expert in Shropshire reporting on the success of Welsh kites in England, and Chairman Mike Hayward keeping us abreast of the technicalities involved with DNA testing.
Fortunately the Welsh Kite Trust has the backing of a loyal membership and keen watchers so we can look forward to another year of caring for kites and increasingly,to monitoring other birds such as kestrels,barn owls and peregrines which are all struggling to survive intensive agriculture, rodenticides and declining prey species.

Blind in one eye but still flying White 6

Start off with my best side! This bird has been a regular at Susanna's feeding station at Talsarn and although missing a wing feather or two seems to be holding its own against the other 200 plus kites that visit. What is its history Tony? Male or female?