Brahminy Kite: how to recognise it
A bird of Asia and Oceania. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © Dougal Townsend · CC BY-NC · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Haliastur indus
- Family
- Hawks, Eagles, and Kites
- Size
- About 45 cm
- Habitat
- Coasts, mangroves, rivers and wetlands
- Found in
- Asia and Oceania
The key marks
The adult is chestnut with a white head and breast and a rounded tail. Young birds are streaky brown with a pale patch under the wing tips and also a rounded tail. Black Kite is dark brown all over and has a clearly forked tail.
Voice
A shrill, mewing whistle.
Good to know
It scavenges, and also snatches dead fish and other food from the water surface of coasts and rivers.
Do not confuse with
Compare it with the Black Kite. Look at the marks above one by one rather than the overall colour, and practise telling the two apart with real photos.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in coasts, mangroves, rivers and wetlands. It is especially common in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and India. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.