Film | Red Kite Chicks Grow Up Wild & Fierce | Discover Wildlife

Red kite chicks are aggressive from an early age. But these sibling squabbles are a part of growing up wild.

With iconic forked tails, and long, angled wings, red kites are striking birds of prey. After discovering a nest high in the tree canopy, I built a 16m scaffold tower in order hide a camera inside their nest. This gave me unique insight into the secret nesting behaviours of these beautiful birds. Red kites are legally protected, but I have a license which allows me to film them on the nest. Nevertheless, I kept my distance, watching their behaviour via a wired monitor and, later when the chicks were old enough for the adults to leave the nest, from a hide on the scaffold tower. Sadly, red kites have a tendency to decorate their nests with rubbish and this pair had chosen to to line theirs with plastic. This can be very dangerous if it gets waterlogged since chicks can drown. 

Eclectic diet

Although known to be carrion- eaters, red kites eat a wide range of prey. As their chicks grew I watched this pair deliver pheasant roadkill as well as songbirds, rat, and even fish - presumably snatched from a nearby lake. Sometimes their food was delivered extra fresh - watch what happens when a live duckling is dropped into the nest and, terrified, dashes over the side of the nest. It might survive the fall, but without its mother it surely perished.  During the first days the chicks are unable to swallow prey whole, and so the female carefully broke it up into small morsels. Unusually, the male also helped and it was remarkable to see how delicate these birds were when feeding their chicks. Also, whilst the chicks were quarrelsome, the parent birds seemed calm and always tidy, removing carcasses to keep the nest clean and free from disease.

Red kites: males v females

The adults are also continually adding new material to the nest, both sticks and, tragically, more plastic as decoration. Male vs female The sexes look very similar, and individual birds can vary significantly, but when these birds are together the differences become apparent since females are larger than males.

Chicks aggressive

Red kite chicks are aggressive and squabbles between siblings start within days of hatching. This aggression is to maintain dominance and can be fatal, should food resources decline. By two weeks the chicks are old enough for the adults to leave alone in the nest, although the female remains on guard at the edge of the nest - ready to spread her wings like an umbrella over the chicks when it rains. The male too is never far away and quickly sees off a common buzzard that gets too close. 

Chicks grow fast

As the chicks get bigger, the adult birds remove themselves to nearby branches - giving the chicks more room as they begin flapping their wings. As they do so their downy feathers fall away revealing their adult plumage and as they start to stand up confidently in the nest the development of their iconic forked tail becomes obvious.