At a time when ornithologists have expressed concern over the dwindling population of House Sparrows and House Crows in the major cities across the country, the population of Black Kite (Milvus migrans) is thriving amid rapid urbanisation.
There are several reports by avian experts based on on-field observations of Black Kites which indicates that their population is increasing despite the loss of green cover and rapid urbanization. One of the major factors for their thriving population is mountains of garbage at dumping grounds, ensuring easy and regular availability of food for the medium-sized raptors.
“Black Kites usually have a habit of hunting smaller species like lizards, rodents, frogs, insects among others. But the habit is now changing due to availability of plenty of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food at dumping grounds in major cities. Also, there are no other raptors that kill Black Kites as prey species. These factors have made their survival easy and their numbers are increasing rapidly in major cities,” said TK Roy, ecologist and Asia Waterbird Census (AWC) Delhi state-coordinator while talking to The Pioneer.
“Black Kites build their nests atop high trees and electricity towers. They can be seen in thousands at urban waste disposal sites across Delhi-NCR region,” he said.
Black Kite, a medium-sized bird of prey has small, dark brown eyes and a large black, hook-shaped beak that is used for tearing flesh and consuming their prey. Apart from being scavengers on the dump sites and streets, the Kites are stated to have an important niche in the urban ecosystem as predators as they prey on rodents, squirrels, insects, amphibians, reptiles and small birds.
As per the observations of avian experts in the region, their population has increased over the past few years in major cities like Gurugram, Faridabad, Chandigarh, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, among others areas which have large dumping grounds or landfills.
Dr Onkar Singh, Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, Punjabi University, Patiala said, “Urban environment, apart from being a challenging habitat for species like House Sparrows, has provided potential new resources and brought various behavioral changes in raptors like Black Kites.”
“The urban areas lacked mature trees which eventually have resulted in utilization of artificial structures like towers, pylons, as nesting places for Black Kites.
These birds, apart from hovering over the dumping sites are seen foraging on the garbage. It is also observed that these raptors are now feeding on vegetarian food at the dumping grounds,” he said.
“Huge congregation of the Kites on the dumping sites at Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar Amritsar, Bathinda among other cities in Punjab can be seen now as their population is increasing,” Dr Singh added.
Corroborating the same, Rima Dhillon, general secretary of Chandigarh Bird Club said, “Black Kites can be seen in large numbers at Sector 38 west dumping ground in Chandigarh. From hunting and preying on insects, rodents and other small animals, the Black Kites are now feeding on ready-to-eat scraps.” “These raptors are flourishing due to easy availability of food at dumping sites in major cities,” she said.
According to the avian experts, over the last decade, Black Kites have acquired a portion of the niche vacated by vultures in the country.
The experts also emphasize a need to undertake a specified study focusing on foraging behaviour of Kites on the dumping grounds as it will give insights in case they show fluctuations in number in the future.