Action on a grey Sunday.

A bigger bird will always have the right of way in the sky.
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Oh yes, I think that big tin bird certainly has the right of way and the crows scattered.

A grey day covered in cloud with a cool brisk wind is always welcome to break the heat. We really sweated these past two days and so I see this day as a real and timely relief. Of course any color day also offers photographic opportunities and one only has to keep an eye out on the skies.
Some will say that I was lucky to get these photos, but I always say that I was in the right place at the right time.
Come and have a look.

Best for the crows to keep a safe distance between them and that giant bird called a (Planeous passengerius).
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And now what was this approaching from a distance?
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Ah! that "V" shaped tail and yellow beak can only belong to a Yellow-billed Kite (Milvus aegyptius).
An early breeding summer visitor.
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Just a brief show as he was in a hurry to go somewhere.
The shops close early on a Sunday and maybe his wife sent him to go and get some sugar or something.
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Farewell lovely bird and thank you for my first sighting of you this new summer.
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Did I tell you that it is a cool grey day and that we have some rain on the way again?
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Soon the Kite and his mate will have to start hunting to feed their new youngster after the nesting period and this will give me chance to get him on camera on a clear day.

Some more information on the new visitor

The yellow-billed kite (Milvus aegyptius) is the Afrotropic counterpart of the black kite (Milvus migrans), of which it is most often considered a subspecies. However, recent DNA studies suggest that the yellow-billed kite differs significantly from black kites in the Eurasian clade, and should be considered as a separate, allopatric species.
There are two subspecies: M. a. parasitus, found throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa (including Madagascar), except for the Congo Basin (with intra-African migrations) and M. a. aegyptius of Egypt, south-west Arabia and the Horn of Africa (which disperses south during the non-breeding season).

Source

So it turns out that the Yellow-billed Kite is a distinct sub-species of its own and that it visits us all the way from Egypt to come and breed here during our summer.

Glad that I could introduce you to the visitor and hope that you enjoyed the post.

And That's All Friends!

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60HS Bridge camera.

Thank you kindly for supporting a post on behalf of @papilloncharity



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42 comments
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Kites came back here almost two months ago, forever hovering looking for food in the busy season up above. Actually catch small live rodents and insects, also very content scavenge when dead fish are on the shore or flat frogs on the road....

Other big bird the (Planeous passengerius) has become an endangered species in our skies of late 😂....

!LUV
!BEER
!1UP

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Oh yeah, I remember a kite sitting close to you at some stage.
I got the first raptor kill of the season today with his prey. Not a Kite and will post it tomorrow.

They are slowly being populated in the shies again and under rehabilitation methinks 🤣

!LUV
!BEER
!PIZZA

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Kites in our region had a helping hand, two brothers I worked with at the Illovo Sugar Mill in the late 80's early 90's were involved up in the Eston area with rehabilitating their numbers.

In our area they are pleading with people to feed chicken necks to the Storks and Kites, especially storks not to be given bread which is bad for most birds in not developing strong bones.

Look forward to your content, have a great day!

!LUV
!WINE

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We also thankfully have NGO's over here that are working with the birds.
Yes bread can be bad for birds and that's why we feed the with special bread that we get from the pet shop. Thankfully Harry and Sally only comes at breeding time, else they will bankrupt us.

Thank you Lady Joan.

!LUV
!WINE

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I remember my dad saving outer lettuce leaves and rice mainly for garden birds up in the Transvaal, having had a duck as a pet we were taught why normal shop bread is not good.

Yes bird seed is expensive of late, still get their seed daily one of the pleasures in life is to watch them.

!LOLZ

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on the farm up in the far north we learned as children all about feeding animals and birds.
Also about how nature also feeds them and strangely today I was reminded of nature's feeding as I watched a Kelp Gull eating a small dead ray on the beach. Of course I took photos and will show the sometime.

Yes, we get the 10kg bag and 5 smaller bags of dried worms and I don't know what other stuff Maran gets, but it works out to some serious total amounts.
Believe it or not, my salary is used to pay for the medical aid and the animal food and after that I am flat 😊 LOLZ (I hope it works)

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Medical bills and animal feed be careful you don't have to eat the worms 😃

!WINE

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This is spectacular, I mean I cant even imagine how you took this photos

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Yeah, the Planeous passengerius (🤣 !LOLZ ) is too big for the crows to mess with it.

The Kite looks nice - I hope you'll get some more good shots when they nest, maybe you can also take photos of their youngster(s) 😀


!BEER and !WINE - both make a nice dinner with !PIZZA :)
!invest_vote

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Hahaha, it seems that you are also starting to like Latin Hannes 🤣 !LOLZ

Thank you and I also hope so.
I got my first kill of the season today. A Raptor bird with his prey and will post it tomorrow 😀

Cheers and thanks.

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Oh no, German is complicated enough for me 😂 !LOLZ

Oh, I hope it isn't too bloody. I know they have to live too, we have been talking about that before, but I don't need to see it 😉


!PIZZA and !BEER - sounds like a nice dinner :)
!invest_vote

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Well if I were to try German I will fail in the kindergarten 🤣 !LOLZ

Nope, I only showed the catch and then left him alone 😉

Cheers and thanks.

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German is very complicated, even if you begin learning it in Kindergarten you might struggle with some words or grammatics. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about, but I have to admit that I have never been to a Kindergarten because such things didn't exist in our little village 😂 !LOLZ

I have already seen the post and it's the way I prefer it 😁


!PIZZA and !BEER - sounds like a nice dinner :)
!invest_vote

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Nope, I only used the kindergarten as a metaphor, as I have also never been in one. We had no pre-schools like they have now and started at 6 years of age directly in the primary school.
So whatever language I was forced to learn at that age would have been easy, as I would simply flunk it. Problem solved 🤣 !LOLZ

Thank you and I am glad that the post suited your preferences 😁

Cheers and thanks.

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Yep, primary school at the age of 6 - that's also my way of starting my school life.

Haha, yes, the post was as bloddless as I was hoping 😁 !LOLZ


!PIZZA and !BEER - sounds like a nice dinner :)
!invest_vote

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(Edited)

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