I've speculated before about food sources for Red Kites and I think they'll eat any carrion they can find. Today I saw an adult Red Kite swoop down over a field where it was lost to view for a few seconds. When it reappeared it was carrying a dead rat. It flew off with a noisy crow chasing it.
Moments later another Red Kite appeared from the same field. This second bird was clearly a juvenile, lacking the red body and black breast streaking of an adult, although one or two darker feathers can be seen around the upper breast which must be recently acquired.
I'm fairly certain the adult Red Kite wouldn't have had time to catch and kill the rat whilst it was briefly out of view and suspect the adult came across the juvenile which was feeding on the rat and the adult stole it from the juvenile.
Red Kites - adult with crow and juvenile below |
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