The Kite watcher

Anyone who has read the excellent book "The Kite Runner" will be unsurprised  by what is going on in Kabul at present and not feeling hopeful about the future of that country.  However this post is far more pleasant, and about birds not stick and paper structures.

The story sort of begins in 2020 when a pair of Whistling Kites were very noisy around some Angophora floribunda trees very near our house.  (Incidentally, that species of tree, after which our street is named, is only found, in Victoria in this area.)  Nothing came of that event and they went and bred elsewhere.  In mid-July 2021 Frances saw a bird fly in carrying a branch but we didn't spot any further activity.

On 21 August I noticed a Kite perched in a high and exposed position in the tree and took a photo.  On checking that I had the twig  front of the bird in focus (pity about the bird ...) 

... I noticed the second bird sitting to the right of the frame.  Taking another photo and the second bird was clearly on a nest!  As it was late in the day I have post-edited the exposure of this second image to give a better view of the bird on the nest.

Somewhat later I set up my telescope in the road to allow some friends on an exercise walk to view the birds through my telescope, while they caught their breath.  Initially the bird on the nest was eating something that had been brought in and after a while the other bird joined in and both fed.  (I didn't have my camera or my digiscoping adapter to capture this.)

This seems like an excellent opportunity to study a breeding episode and I intend to update this blog throughout the period.  The length of the period is a little unknown as I am assuming there are eggs in the nest but I don't know when they were first laid.  HANZAB gives the incubation period as at least 38 days.  There will then be about 5 weeks with nestlings!  My intention is to record interesting events and milestones in this post.

From Google Earth the nest is about 25 m horizontally from my observation post on our deck.  Taking an approximate sighting on the nest with a protractor and using the excellent interactive diagram in this site, I was able to calculate the nest as being ~20m above our lawn.

The first updates are from 22 August.

• As a Kite flew in over our house it was harassed by a Masked Lapwing which I assume to be the non-brooding bird of the pair nested on the lawn of our neighbour on the side away from the Kites nest.  The lapwing nest is about 50 horizontal metres from the Kite's nest.  We foresee interesting times, and probably a lot of noise, when the Lapwing chicks hatch.
• The Kites usually call as they leave or arrive at nest.
• Late in the afternoon of 22 August I was getting in some washing and heard much vocalising from the area of the nest.  Then three kites flew out of the copse. One promptly went back to the nest while the other two grappled talons and tumbled, linked together down from ~30 m up to about 2 m above the ground. One returned to the vicinity of the nest, the other to a low branch: after 5 min the intruder flew off.

The wind was very strong throughout 24th August and the nest seemed empty for much of the day. The branch it is on was moving around considerably in the tempest and I wondered if it had been abandoned.  The wind was still strong on 25th  but when I checked at 0708 hrs an adult was locked in position: they must have had a good serve of dramamine!

The adults appeared to have nicked off again later on 25th so I consulted a raptor expert.  Their advice was:

"I couldn’t say or guess whether they have abandoned.  Eggs can take a fair bit of chilling (hot sun is more quickly fatal), but the other thing  is, a parent kite might not be very visible if hunkered down low in the nest and the tail is pointing away from the viewer.  Maybe one is on the nest more often than is apparent, depending  on how well you can see the nest and attending adult.  Or maybe the eggs have hatched and the chicks are big enough (downy and feathering) to be left alone for periods, and are hunkered down flat in bad weather.  I guess time will tell, and you might ascertain more when  the weather is better.  If the nest has failed, the adults will probably have another go soon."

I checked the nest at 0640 (just daylight, and cloudy, but far less windy than the previous 2 days) on 26 August.  Both birds were standing in the nest, apparently eating.  The lighter-coloured bird moved off to preen on a nearby branch while the other settled down in the nest.  On our way back from our walk (about 0810 an adult flew in towards the nest with a Masked Lapwing in hot pursuit.  At about 0920 I saw one adult fly in, and its talons were clearly empty.  It moved to the edge of the nest and appeared to regurgitate 'something' which the incubating bird appeared to eat.  I'm not sure if that is normal behaviour.  Around 1010 I was checking with telescope and the bird on the nest was eating something red and bloody.

On 28 August both birds seemed to spend some time in the nest, which wasn't being blown around as much as on previous days.  The Lapwing chicks had emerged and one of the adults flew up to the Kite nest to squawk at the occupants.

Around 1 September the Lapwing family walked away and were last seen on the far side of the road about 100m away.  Despite this added distance on 3 September I saw an adult Lapwing pursue a flying Kite with the situation being resolved by the Kite barrel rolling and showing its talons to the Lapwing, which decided discretion was the better idea.

The Kites had been spending more time visible on the nest with the better weather from 30 August to 3 September. On 4 September the wind was not noticeable but there was very steady rain.  When I first checked the nest I thought it was empty but then saw a head just visible beside a framing branch.

On 8 September there was a minor ruckus as a Pied Currawong appeared neat the nest.  It was driven away very promptly.

On 14 and 15 September the bird on the nest (or birds as I can't tell whether it is the same one all the time) seemed very restless, and doing a fair bit on structural maintenance on the next while sitting in it.  I didn't see them add any new twigs, but there seemed a fair bit of shifting existing material around.  They were also quite vocal: mainly quiet calls rather than the well known whistling call.

16 September was much the same as the previous 2 days.  It was interesting to note how much the sitting bird "sank into" the nest.  Even with my telescope focused on the nest it required careful looking to spot some tail feathers at one end and the crown just visible at the other.  It is now at least 26 days since I first noticed the occupied nest: from the information in HANZAB the chicks should hatch by 28 September. (As the birds are so obvious when flying in to the nest I am inclined to think we didn't miss much of the sitting period: but we did overlook the nest building, so who knows.)

The birds were very vocal on 22 September with the sitting bird calling about once a minute and answered by another nearby.  Then a second bird flew in, and they swapped positions, continuing to call.  A third bird then called from some distance away and both birds from the nesting pair took off - presumably to repel the potential intruder.

I don't know what was going on on 23 September.   The nest was vacated early in the morning and stayed vacant all day.  Still empty in the morning of 24 September.  I did see a Kite carry a stick into a different tree in the copse of Angophoras later in the morning.  Around 1018 (timestamp on photo) there was a prolonged aerial battle with a pair of Masked Lapwings.

For about 3 weeks after 24 September the nest remained empty but the Kites were still in the area.  On 12 or 13 October a bird was seen sitting in the old nest.  A second Kite flew in carrying prey and fed it to the sitting bird. Around 0630 on 15 October a bird flew in to the copse carrying a twiggy branch about 50 cm long.  After a pause away from the nest it flew up to the nest and passed the branch to the sitting bird, which stood up and commenced placing the branch in the structure of the nest.  I have no idea what is going on!

On 19 October at 0710 both birds were in the nest, with the lighter bird feeding on something dropped in the nest.

On 27 October both birds were standing in the nest feeding.  On 28th, 0600, one bird sitting in the nest the other perched on a branch next to the nest.

On 31 October I heard unusual calls coming from the nest which did not seem to be emanating from an adult.  In the morning of 1 November it was clearly not the adults calling and there seemed to be some downy feathers caught in the nest.  I think we have chicks.  

I am now totally uncertain about the previous comment.  On 17 December I clearly saw a chick in the nest and photographed it on 18 December.  On the information in HANZAB I don't think it would have been around on 1 November.  Here are the photos.

I commented to a neighbour that  thought it was going to be a while before the chick started standing on the edge of the nest and stretching its wings.  Of course as soon as I said that as soon as I got home I saw the wings being stretched!  I wasn't able to get a photo of that, but here are some of feeding time.  It is possibly significant in terms of development that the chick appeared to be ripping off bits of prey itself, as well as being fed by the olds.

The length of the chick can be gauged by this image.  It tail is well to the left of the diagonal branch in the foreground.

The chicks face is visible in the background.

On 21-22 December the chick seemed to be continuing its development.  It seems to try to feed itself, but still accepts morsels passed over by the parent.  When it stretched the wing (unfortunately not when I had my camera on it) it looked as though the primaries were getting some length to them.

On 28 December an adult was feeding in the nest as was the chick.  I watched briefly and saw no signs of flight by the chick.

By 30 December the chick seemed to have developed a fair set of flight feathers, but was staying in the inner side of the nest.  I am expecting the launch to come from the more open side, towards the paddock.

No further developments by 1600h on 31 December, but it was a very hot day (maximum at my weather station 37.3C).

The chick is still in the nest by the end of 3 January 2022.  It seemed to spend most of the day walking around the edge of the nest occasionally stretching its wings.  About 1730 it was standing at the Northern end of the nest when an adult flew in with some prey.  The chick got well shirtfronted, but both then fed.  The adult then left and the chick stretched again.  The flight feathers look pretty well developed.

We have kept a close eye on the nest since then (apart from when we were in Canberra)  and the chick seemed to spend a lot of time walking around the edge of the nest and stretching its wings.  Finally on 12 January I saw it out of the nest, perching on a branch.

Later in the day the nest appeared empty but there was a large bird moving around in another part of the copse of Angophoras.  I declare that the bird has fledged.  The process of shifting around in the nest tree has been described to me, by John Hutchinson, as a well known behaviour known as 'branching'.

The summary timeline of these events is as follows:

mid July:  Bird seen to carry branch in to copse;

21 August: 2 birds in/near well developed nest. 

22 August: defending territory.  Nest occupied constantly thereafter;

24 September: nest deserted for next 3 weeks;

12 October: nest seen to be re-occupied - possibly we missed seeing a couple of days (at least) of occupation as shown by counting back.;

9 -12 October: counting back using durations in HANZAB, eggs laid 

16 November counting back from chick feeding itself: hatching

17 December: chick's head seen in nest;

21 December chick appeared to feed itself 

12 January: fledged.

My final comment on this post is to note that on14 January the "chick" was seen flying and perching at a house about 150m down Angophora Drive.  So it has well and truly fledged!