black kite Milvus migrans

[peter crow <>]

Some years ago we camped on the river at Innaminka for a few days.  
both Whistling and black Kites were present the whole time. black  
Kites definitely gave calls which could have been confused withathe  
call of the Whistling Kite.
We were at first confused but on many occasions watched Black Kites  
calling (beaks moving) and listened to the "whstler' call.
these birds were flying no more than 15 metres overhead or were  
perched  a similar distance away.
Peter


On 12/02/2008, at 7:32 AM, Andrew Taylor wrote:

> On Mon, Feb 11, 2008 at 04:07:47AM -0800, Nikolas Haass wrote:
> > Indeed Black Kites are very vocal - not only in Africa, Europe
> > and Asia, but also in Australia (I heard lots of them calling
> > in the NT).  Some authors separate Yellow-billed Kite Milvus
> > (m.) aegyptius/parasiticus (the one you saw in Uganda), Black
> > Kite M. (m.) migrans (which you also probably saw in Uganda at
> > this time of the year and Black-eared Kite M. (m.) lineatus at
> > species level.
> This touchs on what is still a mystery to me.  Some  years ago I
> saw&heard Black Kite at Mataranka in the NT make a call very similar
> to the ubiquitous Whistling Kite call.  The BOCA cassettes had such a
> call from Kakadu recorded by Rex Buckingham and HANZAB has a sonagram
> (C) that looks to be such a call from a recording in Kakadu by Ray  
> Swaby.
> But David Stewart, who knows more than a little about Australian bird
> calls, told me that it a great deal of experience with Black Kites in
> western Queensland and never heard such a call - only the call-type in
> HANZAB sonagrams A&B.  Rex Buckingham's recording wasn't used in the
> subsequent BOCA CDs because it was believed to be mis-labelled.
>
> Since then I've visited the NT 6+ times but haven't heard the  
> "Whistling
> Kite" call from a Black Kite, indeed almost complete silence from  
> Black
> Kites.  Various people have given me verbal descriptions of Black Kite
> calls they've heard in the NT.  These seem to be HANZAB sonagrams A&B
> call-type but with verbal descriptions its hard to be sure.
>
> Maybe I (and Ray Swaby and perhaps Rex Buckingham) thought a Black
> Kite was making a call actually been made by a nearby Whistling Kite -
> or maybe its a rarely heard call.
>
> Also, some interesting Miluvus genetic data is in this paper:
> http://www.ummz.umich.edu/molsys/publications_files/johnson-2005- 
> prs.pdf
> As much divergenece between 2 Yellow-billed Kite populations as  
> between
> Red&Black Kite.
>
> Andrew
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