LOCAL NAMES

• চিলনী,
• ভুবন চিল,
• বাদামি চিল,
• গোদা চিল,
• ডোম চিল,
• Milan noir,
• સમડી, ચીલ,
• કાશ્મીરી ચીલ,
• શિયાળુ સમડી,
• દેશી સમડી,
• चील, ಹದ್ದು,
• ಗಿಡುಗ,
• ചക്കിപ്പരുന്ത്,
• घार, घोण,
• कालो चील,
• ଚିଲ, கள்ளப் பருந்து,
• බොර පරකුස්සා
• Afrikaans Swart/Geelbekwou
• Albanian Huta e zezë bishtgërshërë
• Arabic حدأة سوداء
• Armenian Սև ցին
• Assamese চিলনী
• Asturian Milán prietu
• Azerbaijani Qara çalağan B
• asque Miru beltza
• Bulgarian Черна каня
• Catalan Milà negre
• Chinese 黑鳶
• Chinese (SIM) 黑鸢
• Croatian crna lunja
• Czech luňák hnědý
• Danish Sort Glente
• Dutch Zwarte Wouw
• English Black Kite
• English (Philippines) Black Kite
• English (South Africa) Black/Yellow-billed Kite
• English (United States) Black Kite
• Faroese Svartgleða
• Finnish haarahaukka
• French Milan noir
• French (French Guiana) Milan noir
• Galician Miñato negro
• German Schwarzmilan
• Greek Τσίφτης
• Gujarati સમડી
• Hebrew דיה שחורה
• Hindi चील
• Hungarian Barna kánya
• Icelandic Vatnagleða
• Indonesian Elang paria
• Italian Nibbio bruno
• Japanese トビ
• Korean 솔개
• Latvian Melnā klija
• Lithuanian Juodasis peslys
• Malayalam ചക്കിപ്പരുന്ത്
• Marathi घार
• Mongolian Сохор элээ
• Norwegian svartglente
• Odia ମାଟିଆ ଚିଲ
• Persian کورکور سیاه
• Polish kania czarna
• Portuguese (Angola) Milhafre-preto-comum
• Portuguese (Brazil) milhafre-preto
• Portuguese (Portugal) Milhafre-preto
• Romanian Gaie neagră
• Russian Чёрный коршун
• Serbian Crna lunja
• Slovak haja tmavá
• Slovenian Črni škarnik
• Spanish Milano Negro
• Spanish (Spain) Milano negro
• Swedish brun glada/gulnäbbad glada
• Telugu నల్ల గ్రద్ద
• Thai เหยี่ยวดำ/เหยี่ยวหูดำ
• Turkish Kara Çaylak
• Ukrainian Шуліка чорний

DESCRIPTION

The black kite (Milvus migrans) 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 million individuals.

Unlike others of the group, black kites are opportunistic hunters and are more likely to scavenge. They spend much time soaring and gliding in thermals in search of food. Their angled wing and distinctive forked tail make them easy to identify. They are also vociferous with a shrill whinnying call.

The black kite is widely distributed through the temperate and tropical parts of Eurasia and parts of Australasia and Oceania, with the temperate region populations tending to be migratory. Several subspecies are recognized and formerly had their own English names. The European populations are small, but the South Asian population is very large.