Brahminy Kite eating on the wing

Posted by BESG on 3 September 08, Wednesday
Contributed by willis

The Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) is carnivorous, taking a variety of animal foods like mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish and even carrion. It forages by quartering, seizing its prey by gliding down or diving. Sometimes it even gives a short chase at ground level.

Prey is often eaten on the wing. This is thought to cut down on losses to other birds, although the bird themselves are prone to kleptoparasitism – robbing other birds of their food.

The images here show a Brahminy Kite with a bird clutched in its talon (left top) and regularly taking bites when in flight (left bottom). Other raptors usually take the prey to a perch where it is eaten (see related posts below).

All images by Willis.

This post is a cooperative effort between www.naturepixels.org and BESG to bring the study of bird behaviour through photography to a wider audience.

Related Posts:

Brahminy Kite eating on the wing Myron Tay was at Changi recently when he noticed... Brahminy Kite: Nesting observations In March 2007, Mark Chua came across a nesting... Landing a Brahminy Kite in the Andaman Stephen Lau and his fishing buddies were in the Andaman... Hunting technique of Black-shouldered Kite Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus) usually hunts from a perch.... Brahminy Kite: Competition for food In the avian world, it is the law of... Black-shouldered Kite and the House Crow An earlier posting gave an account of the House Crows... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

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Categories: Feeding strategy, Feeding-vertebrates

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