Yellow-billed Kite

Description:

This bird was feeding on the remainings of a "road kill" Puff-Adder. The Yellow-billed Kite is the Afrotropic counterpart of the Black Kite. The Milvus aegyptius parasitus is found throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa (including Madagascar), except for the Congo Basin (with intra-African migrations)

Habitat:

Road EN1, Mozambique. This bird is quite common alongside big roads and close to settlements in the South and middle part of Mozambique.

Notes:

This species is extremely opportunistic in its feeding habits, and the diet includes small vertebrates, insects (including winged termites), carrion, offal, and dead or dying fish. These kites may pirate prey from other bird species, feed on road kills and village dumps, and attend brushfires and grassland fires, sometimes in large congregations. They spend much of their time in low, searching flight, taking prey in flight, or from the ground. As suggested by its name, the Yellow-billed Kite is easily recognized by its entirely yellow bill, unlike that of the Black Kite (which is present in Africa as a visitor during the North Hemisphere winter). However, immature Yellow-billed Kites resemble the corresponding age of the Black Kite. Orta (1994) and Stresemann and Amadon (1979) maintained the yellow-billed African breeding populations, aegyptius and parasitus (including tenebrosus) as subspecies of M. migrans, although other recent authors have treated them as a single separate species. Based on molecular studies of mitochondrial genes, Johnson et al. (2005) recently confirmed that at least the resident populations from South Africa and Madagascar should be regarded as a separate species, M. parasitus Occurs in a wide variety of habitats, including open areas in general, urban areas, arid habitats, degraded forest, and openings in woodland, often near water, but avoiding dense forest habitats. It is more common in higher rainfall areas, and rural areas with dense human populations. Roosts and nests in woodland, or at forest edges, but may also spend the night on the ground, especially in migration.