Black-shouldered Kite

Perched on a wire

A lesser known and much lesser seen kite around Shimoga, Black-shouldered Kite, also called Black-winged Kite, was pleasantly perched on the electric wire when I first saw this. The most striking features of this bird are the black-colored wings on the otherwise mostly white body. But as I got closer, its blood-red eyes stood out. Surprisingly, it allowed me to approach it much closer than most birds.

Salim Ali notes that this bird is rather crepuscular, which means it is active mostly in twilight. He also notes that it has a rather distinctive way of catching preys - apparantly it hovers in mid-air and keeps its wings vertical when bearing down on the prey. Unfortunately I have to wait for another day to catch this behaviour.

Scientific name of this bird is Elanus Caeruleus.