BLACK KITE PROJECT

The Black Kite Milvus migrans is a medium-sized raptor, currently considered as one of the most numerous and successful birds of prey of the world. It is a generalist, opportunistic feeder, capable of reaching extremely high densities where food concentrations allow it and may occupy habitats which range from fully natural to completely urban. Such opportunism and capability to exploit human-modified habitats has afforded this species a generally favourable conservation status, with frequent reports of recently increasing populations, despite some local declines . This capability to adapt to human landscapes reaches its extreme in populations that nest in fully urban conditions, as frequently observed in Asia and Africa . In these settings, kites are reported to use the urban ecosystem not only for nesting but also for feeding on human offal, road kills, animal carcasses and rubbish, sometimes forming spectacular concentrations of thousands of individuals at rubbish dumps of large cities. When these dumps are located in the proximity of airports, the concentration of kites often generates serious management problems because of the risk of collisions with planes. It is remarkable that, despite their overall abundance and frequent proximity to humans, Black Kites have been very rarely studied, except for two or three intensively investigated populations, all of them located in Europe and in non-urban settings.