Red Kite spotted above A65

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Cardiarms
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Post by Cardiarms »

I thought red kites were carrion eaters as well.I was on my allotment once when I heard a 'thwop' sound, looked up and found myself in a shower of feathers. Was told it was probably a pigeon being taken in mid air by a hawk of some kind.

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cnosni
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Post by cnosni »

jonleeds wrote: Actually I'm currently 'baby-sitting' a racing pigeon from Newcastle that I thought had been clipped by a truck or something. When I described its minor injuries to the owner who I contacted via the codes on its leg rings, he seems to think its probably been got at by a hawk or other bird of prey. The pigeon didnt have any serious injuries like broken wings / legs etc, but it did have a bald patch on its shoulder where the feathers have now grown back and 4 of its primary flight feathers have been seemingly plucked out from its right wing. I wonder if the poor bird has had an encounter with one of our local red kites? Its currently residing on my 10th floor balcony where I'm feeding it wild bird seed and its got my cats carrier with the door taken of where it shacks up overnight. Sometimes when I go out to feed it on a morning its sat there with 2-3 of the local pigeons who live under the railway bridge on the Harrogate line where it crosses the outer ring road. Its quite a tame and friendly bird, I'll be sad when he flys home. If it doesnt fly off within a few weeks the owner is going to pay for a courier to drive it back to Newcastle. Id be surprised if it was a Red Kite Jon,they arent the fastest flyers whereas a pigeon is very quick.If it was a bird of prey id be looking at a Sparrowhawk (we have one that terrorises teh neighbours racing pigeons) or even a Peregrine Falcon.
Don't get me started!!My Flickr photos-http://www.flickr.com/photos/cnosni/Secret Leeds [email protected]

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