Swooping into my back garden the Yellow Billed Kite
Yellow-billed kite is a common resident where we live in South Africa arriving with the rains end of August, staying to end of March the end of the rainy season.
On occassion we have counted up to twenty-six hovering in the valley and over our house when food is plentiful, moving back up to the Equator region and North/East Africa, it is an African migratory bird.
A medium-sized bird about 55 cm in length (22 inches), wingspan 160-180 cm (5 ft 3-11 inches) with a fork tail (V-shape), relatively quiet sounding a low quill-err sound, quite distinguishable being below them flying around.
It's wet out, I lost my head...
Standing chatting in our court yard the kite passed over our heads and plop on the ground right before us landed a frogs head. Poor guy, don't know if he scrapped that up off the road good old road kill, definitely not his brunch no more!
Yellow-billed kites are known to eat insects, carrion and scraps from the table, some say they have helped themselves to a morsel when out in the open, I have never experienced this, it would be quite a treat or shock!
On top of the tree with very few leaves (berries yet to arrive), he landed, looking quite bedraggled and sad for himself up there. After all the rain we experienced the past couple of days his mood looked bad today, tomorrow flying ants may emerge again he will survive.
Thought for today: Birds sing not because they have answers but because they have songs. ~ African Proverb
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!steemitworldmap -30.0836005 lat 30.8678566 long Sapphire Coast South Africa D3SCR
i love nature and this is really beautiful.
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Great to birds to have in your back garden :)
All shapes and sizes, yup they have their up's and downs as well @ianstevenson
Some amazing birds and photography
They are amazing when swarming together, perhaps one day when our lines are able I will upload short clip video of them in full swing @socialmediaseo
Ojala en el futuro lejano aun se puedan disfrutar, bonito lugar, id kryptonia @reyos69
Everyday is a good day in nature @reyos
漂亮的鳥.拍的不錯~~
Thanks @cloudblade we are lucky to have some larger birds of prey in our region.
Great to see these birds. Thought for the day is awesome.
Thanks for support @kcherukuri
@joanstewart Oy Vay, At first I thought that I know this bird Lady Joan, then I remembered that I regarded my pictures of him as a hawk. Now I know that it's a Yellow Billed Kite! Some great pictures here and please keep on smiling! Blessings!
Black-shouldered kite and Yellow-billed kite are very similar and seen quite often during summer season only. Interesting reading material if you have a minute...
http://birding.krugerpark.co.za/birding-in-kruger-raptor-kites.html
@joanstewart Thank you for the link Lady Joan and I remember looking at this the first time that I started to get the Black Shouldered Kite on my camera. So great to be reminded that I now also have the Yellow-billed Kite. At least I think it is one? Blessings!
No fork tail being evident, I would think this may be a Shikra or little banded goshawk, kites have the V-shape tail making slightly easier for identification. Being a total amateur in birding I thoroughly enjoy researching, you most definitely had the Black-shouldered kite in one of your photo's you put up awhile back with the grey/black plumage in in Johannesburg.
You are so lucky having seen a yellow billed kite right in front of your eyes and in your garden!
Regular visitors down here, really hope all the development in our area does not affect their arrival in the future @lizelle
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This is a new bird for me thank you for the info on it and the pictures. Kryptonia @richard78624
Birds that migrate, always interesting to learn where they come from @richard78624
This bird eats lizards in my area, very fast and accurate. Kryptonia @mrlopez
We have a garden full of those as well @mrlopez never witnessed them taking a skink lizard basking in the sun.
Beautiful Birds But They Are Wild AsWell 😂
Free to roam the skies @orakzai
In between the poor wet bird and the frog's head, this is an awesome post! I did not know feathers would get wet like that on a healthy bird.
Was exceptionally wet weather that particular day, also cold for our region at this time of the year. They are known to pick up road-kill must have landed to find a meal, looked pretty sad for itself all drenched.
Wow they are so cute and lovely birds very good post! Kryptonia id @mejia _martinez
Love the colours in the wings @me2017
Birds can get bed head...good to know, heh.
Some birds just look so regal and majestic, don't they?! Is this in any way related to a hawk? It looks very similar to these birds. Thanks for the great images.
Found a bit to help with answering your question @steveblucher
https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-2fd4cdc83127d427e2747720b08e0c84-c
I love birds, thank you for sharing.
Nice bird! It is nice looking to this animals.
I love those African proverbs. Your posts are delightful, the photos are original, what a treat 💕
Proverbs are always an education all on their own @starjewel
Beautiful photo, thank you for sharing
Nice!
nice post i love birds
Those bird are beautiful
Great series of photos, an entertaining read, and much information about these wonderful birds! Fantastic job on this post! Kudos! 😊
Thanks for you kind comment @thekittygirl
Nice bird ,is it legal to domesticate these type of birds if possible.
Very good and sincere post, thank you!
wow beautiful bird Yellow-billed Kite...
Awesome photographs friend..
Nice to see these guys! He does look a bit out of shape after the rain. I wonder how that effects their flying skills.
He sat for a couple of minutes, then swooped off to go down into the valley @intrepidphotos not much appears to get them down.
Wow! What a wonderful visitor! Great pics you managed to get!
The bird's head also get wet. Great photos!