African Yellow-billed Kite

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.

Yellow-billed kite

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.

Yellow Billed Kite Plumage

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.

Wet Yellow-billed kite

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!

Frog Head

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.

Yellow billed kite

Thought for today: Birds sing not because they have answers but because they have songs. ~ African Proverb


Animal Sunday Photography My Contibution @homeartpictures

All photography is my own (please ask permission before you use any of my photography) Photography with Canon PowerShot SX730 HS


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