Accipitridae

Dark hawk with long slightly drooped wings, tail looks triangular. Plumage dark muddy brown with fine dark streaks, dark mark round eyes, pale on throat; cere and legs yellow. Immature: streaked fawn on head and breast, spotted fawn on wings, back and underwings; tail tipped fawn.

Diurnal, Groups of black kites travel widely and are attracted to dead animals, rubbish dumps and prey-flushing grassfires in their search for food. Rarely solitary, often congregating in flocks of several hundred.

Woodland Forest Wetland Grassland Shrubland, Tropical and dry northern inland Austrlalia; Open woodland, inland waters and fringing forests; floodplains.

This species is thought to migrate to semi-arid country to the south during the Wet (Storr, 1977).

May June July, Breed wherever there is ample food. 2 to 3; dull white, spots, blotches, streaks of umber, taking about 6 weeks to raise 2 or 3 independent young. Incubation period 35 days by the female only, fledge 38-42 days.

Kakadu National Park

Omnivore, Carrion; small mammals; reptiles; grasshoppers; herbage Feeds mainly on insects and lizards but a large part of the diet may come from dead animals.