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Today's #BirdsAtTea is the Black-shouldered Kite, at @FunkyAnt's request. Again, I have no pics, so all borrowed (this from Derek Keats https://www.flickr.com/photos/dkeats/45979034945). These are odd #raptors that tell us about challenges of savannah life and the advantages of nomadism. 1/5 #ornithology
Most #raptors are territorial and have a traditional nest they return to once a year. Black-shouldered Kites are nomads, breeding sometimes twice a year https://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/39420/1/p00001-p00007.pdf and nesting in large numbers during population booms of small grassland rodents. 2/5 (pic D Peterson)
Savannahs are tough places to live: they have strong wet/dry seasons and large yearly variation in rainfall. This means food that is plentiful now, may be scarce tomorrow, but a few wet years in a row could create a rodent bonanza, great for kites! 3/5
Pic https://pixabay.com/photos/bird-black-shouldered-kite-3960892/
Pic https://pixabay.com/photos/bird-black-shouldered-kite-3960892/
During a rodent outbreak, Black-shouldered Kites can be 10x commoner in Serengeti! https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VjPBBwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA323&dq=Elanus+caeruleus+serengeti&ots=gY2QcgrOw8&sig=vN0miPmEN1hH7z5cgYAAd3BFxkQ#v=onepage&q=Elanus%20caeruleus%20serengeti&f=false The ability to move to use spatially and temporally variable resources is key to success in savannahs, just as pastoralists to with cattle. 4/5
pic https://www.flickr.com/photos/birdsaspoetry/26244154416/
pic https://www.flickr.com/photos/birdsaspoetry/26244154416/
So Black-shouldered Kites show us how nomadism is sensible in savannahs, and makes them odd #raptors. Surprisingly, evolving to do this has made them converge on owl-like traits, including that face pattern https://bioone.org/journals/Journal-of-Raptor-Research/volume-40/issue-3/0892-1016(2006)40[222:CEOEKA]2.0.CO;2/CONVERGENT-EVOLUTION-OF-ELANUS-KITES-AND-THE-OWLS/10.3356/0892-1016(2006)40[222:CEOEKA]2.0.CO;2.full. Cool #birds! Pic https://flickr.com/photos/birdsaspoetry/48742221937/ 5/5
![So Black-shouldered Kites show us how nomadism is sensible in savannahs, and makes them odd #raptors. Surprisingly, evolving to do this has made them converge on owl-like traits, including that face pattern https://bioone.org/journals/Journal-of-Raptor-Research/volume-40/issue-3/0892-1016(2006)40[222:CEOEKA]2.0.CO;2/CONVERGENT-EVOLUTION-OF-ELANUS-KITES-AND-THE-OWLS/10.3356/0892-1016(2006)40[222:CEOEKA]2.0.CO;2.full. Cool #birds! Pic https://flickr.com/photos/birdsaspoetry/48742221937/ 5/5](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EWIj7pIWkAArzOA.jpg "So Black-shouldered Kites show us how nomadism is sensible in savannahs, and makes them odd #raptors. Surprisingly, evolving to do this has made them converge on owl-like traits, including that face pattern https://bioone.org/journals/Journal-of-Raptor-Research/volume-40/issue-3/0892-1016(2006)40[222:CEOEKA]2.0.CO;2/CONVERGENT-EVOLUTION-OF-ELANUS-KITES-AND-THE-OWLS/10.3356/0892-1016(2006)40[222:CEOEKA]2.0.CO;2.full. Cool #birds! Pic https://flickr.com/photos/birdsaspoetry/48742221937/ 5/5")
