Crested kite
| Crested kite | ||||||||||
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Crested kite |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||
| Lophoictinia | ||||||||||
| Kaup , 1847 | ||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||
| Lophoictinia isura | ||||||||||
| ( Gould , 1838) |
The crested kite ( Lophoictinia isura ) is a type of honey buzzard that belongs to the avifauna of Australia .
The stock situation of the European kite is given as harmless ( least concern ). No subspecies are distinguished.
Appearance
Body measurements
The crested kite reaches a body length of 50 to 55 centimeters and a wing span between 130 and 145 centimeters. The tail plumage accounts for 23 to 26.9 centimeters of the body length. The beak is 2.3 to 2.7 inches long. The weight is between 500 and 680 grams. There is no pronounced gender dimorphism.
Adult birds
The head is reddish brown with a white face. The vertex has thick black longitudinal lines, on the rest of the head these longitudinal lines are clearly finer. The coat, the rump and the middle upper tail-coverts are blackish. The rest of the top of the body is red-brown. The upper tail-coverts are gray-brown in freshly molted birds and clearly lighter in worn plumage. The tail plumage is dark gray-brown with three to five narrow and darker transverse bands. The individual feathers have cream-colored tips.
The underside of the body is reddish brown with black longitudinal lines that are wider on the chest and front neck than on the rest of the underside of the body. The rump and the tail-coverts are pale red-brown to cream-colored. The tail plumage is silvery white on the underside with a narrow black end band and cream-colored feather tips.
The beak is black with a flesh-colored wax skin. The iris is pale yellow, the legs and feet are whitish to cream-colored.
Fledglings
Young birds are similar to adult birds, but have a red-brown head and a red-brown underside of the body with clearly narrower longitudinal lines. The upper tail covers are light isabel colored. The tail plumage on the underside is similar to that of the adult birds, but the end band is more diffuse and narrower. The iris is dark brown, the wax skin is whitish.
Possible confusion
The crested kite can be confused with several other bird of prey species in its range. The greatest similarity exists with the young birds and subadults of the black-breasted kite , which correspond to the crested kite in size and wingspan. The black-breasted kite, however, has a larger and more conspicuous beak and head, the overall body is somewhat stronger, the tail is wider and shorter and rounded at the end. The wedge-tailed eagle is larger, more powerfully built and has wider wings. The black kite, on the other hand, is darker. There are also similarities with the rabbit eagle and the fox hat .
Distribution area
The crested kite occurs exclusively on the Australian mainland and is disjointed there. The main areas of distribution are in Eastern Australia and Southwest Australia. In South Australia , however, it is extremely rare. It is also absent from the Nullarbor Plains , the Gibson Desert , the Great Victoria Desert , and the Great Sand Desert .
The crested kite is a migratory bird in most of its range . Breeding birds move to the south, east and southwest of Australia at the beginning of the breeding season and leave this region again at the end of the breeding season. During the winter months there are hardly any crested kites to be found in the Australian states of Victoria, New South Wales and Southern Australia. Non-breeding crested kites migrate to northern Australia during the dry season. The migratory movements are probably triggered by a reduced supply of food and the higher number of rainfall.
habitat
The habitat of the crested kite are the forested regions in the tropical and temperate climates of Australia. It occurs predominantly in regions near the coast, but its range also includes forest areas along rivers, so that it also penetrates far inland into arid areas. He avoids treeless regions. It is absent in the alpine regions of Australia and also avoids the remaining forest remnants in otherwise deforested regions. The presence of a large number of different songbirds is typical of its habitats. If these requirements are met, it can also be found in urban areas.
The crested kite has never been a common bird species in its entire range; in the east and south-west, as a result of the conversion of areas into agricultural land, its number has also declined where there are still forest remnants. Higgins et al. suspect that it depends on large, contiguous forest areas for its breeding business.
Way of life
The crested kite lives mostly solitary. Only during the breeding season can it occasionally be observed in pairs or - after the young birds have fled their homes - also in small family groups. He rarely gets to the ground and when that happens he usually doesn't stay long. He is usually not shy and allows people to come closer to him. Higgins et al. even refer to him as "lethargic". He hunts mainly in the upper treetop area.
The food consists mainly of songbirds and insects, which it pecks from the leaves. Only occasionally does it strike small mammals and reptiles. During the breeding season it also eats the eggs and nestlings of other bird species.
Reproduction
The crested kite lives in monogamous marriage, the couple bond may exist for life. They brood very early and occasionally reproduce while they are still carrying the plumage of subadult birds. The territory occupied by a single couple is probably very large. It is estimated to be more than 100 square kilometers per couple.
Both parent birds are involved in the breeding and rearing of the young birds, but the female has a far greater part in the breeding business. The breeding season in temperate Australia falls from July to February. In Western Australia, on the other hand, the crested kite breeds between September and December.
The nest is usually located near watercourses, usually the closest flowing water is less than 100 meters from the nest tree. There is not yet enough data to determine the average clutch size. The nests examined so far usually contained two eggs. Clutches with three eggs are the exception. The length of the incubation period is not exactly known, but is probably 37 to 42 days. The duration of the nestling period has also not been investigated so far. In one nest, a nestling flew out 59 days after hatching.
literature
- Bruce M. Beehler, Thane K. Pratt: Birds of New Guinea; Distribution, Taxonomy, and Systematics . Princeton University Press, Princeton 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-16424-3 .
- J. Ferguson-Lees, DA Christie: Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London 2001, ISBN 0-7136-8026-1 .
- PJ Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds , Volume 2, Raptors to Lapwings, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1993, ISBN 0-19-553069-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b of the Birds of the World zum Schopfmilan accessed on June 4, 2017.
- ↑ a b c d Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds . Volume 2, p. 205.
- ↑ Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds . Volume 2, p. 213.
- ↑ a b Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds . Volume 2, p. 208.
- ↑ a b c Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds . Volume 2, p. 206.
- ↑ a b c Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds . Volume 2, p. 209.
- ↑ Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds . Volume 2, p. 210.
- ↑ a b Higgins (Ed.): Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds . Volume 2, p. 211.