Black Kite

Milvus migrans (Boddaert, 1783)

		Adultus fly adult fly juvenile
2011-05-04 Jodro, Altai Republic. 2015-06-13 Kemerovo2012-09-06 Ermakovskij rajon, Krasnoyarskij kraj	© Sergey Pisarevskiy © Aleksandr Gontcharov© Alexandr Zhigalin

Distribution

Widely distributed from the extreme south of Siberia to the north of taiga zone, in summer it was recorded in forest-steppe as well. A nominative subspecies M.m.migrans in the west of Western Siberia, which has light head, yellow itris (dark in juveniles), brown (not white) coloration at base of primaries. Black-eared Kite M.m.lineatus in the most part of Siberia: head usually darker (like back), iris dark, well-expressed dark brown band goes through eye to ear zone. Birds with intermediate features can appear in the zone of contact between the subspecies.

References

В.К.Рябицев. "Птицы Сибири". Москва-Екатеринбург, Изд-во "Кабинетный ученый", 2014.