AnimalvsAnimal
Milvus migrans front(ThKraft)🦅

Photo: Thomas Kraft (ThKraft) · CC BY-SA 2.5

SpeciesAccipitriformesAccipitridae
Birds

🦅Black Kite

Milvus migrans (Boddaert, 1783)

The black kite or fire kite is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors. It is thought to be the world's most abundant species of Accipitridae, although some populations have experienced dramatic declines or fluctuations. Current global population estimates run up to 6.7 million individuals.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
15
Photos
2
Measurements
10
vs you
≈ 1/85th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2021.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
0.73 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
24 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Black Kite

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.73 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Tail length
0.27 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.46 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.04 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.05 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
24 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Omnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Woodland
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Aerial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0.7 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Black Kite yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderAccipitriformes
  5. ›familyAccipitridae
  6. ›genusMilvus
  7. ›speciesMilvus migrans
Full lineage
  1. classBirds · Aves
  2. orderHawks & eagles · Accipitriformes
  3. familyAccipitridae
  4. genusMilvus
All 12 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. orderHawks & eagles · Accipitriformes
  11. familyAccipitridae
  12. genusMilvus
More

More about the Black Kite

Closest relative on this site
🦅 Red Kite — last shared an ancestor ≈ 2.0 million years ago.
In other languages
トビ (ja), Milan noir (fr), milà negre (ca), luňák hnědý (cs), Sort Glente (da), Schwarzer Milan (de) … and 28 more languages
More photos
Milvus migrans front(ThKraft)109 Black kite in Jim Corbett National Park Photo by Giles Laurent
All 2 photos in the gallery →

Animals caught on camera

Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.

See all 15 videos →
Tools

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Side by side

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Scaling lab

How speed, brain and bite scale with body size. This animal isn't in the sample yet.

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Tree of life

See where it sits in the tree of life.

12 branchesOpen →