Black-winged Kite

The black-winged kite is a small, long-winged bird of prey, mainly grey and white with black shoulder patches, wing-tips and eye stripe. Its large, forward-facing, red-eyed eyes sit under a bony shelf that gives it an owl-like face, and like owls it has velvety plumage and a reversible outer toe. Perched, its long falcon-like wings reach beyond the short, square tail, and it often adjusts its wings and jerks its tail up and down as if balancing, frequently on roadside wires. The sexes look alike (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is best known for hovering over open grassland like a kestrel as it hunts, mainly for rodents. It is not migratory but nomadic, moving in response to weather and food. It takes advantage of sudden rodent booms and, unlike most raptors, can raise several broods in a year. It is mainly a bird of the plains but also uses grassy hill slopes. In India it is resident across a very large range. SoIB 2023 estimates a long-term decline of about 43% and a current fall of about 3.5% a year, and rates it a Moderate conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).