Flying red kite snatches a dead egret

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🔽 License this footage here:
https://1url.cz/nugUZ
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Hunter and Gatherer

Which raptor is the most beautiful in the Czech Republic? The red kite! And which raptor is still missing in my archive? Take a guess.

The red kite is a critically endangered species in my country, although its numbers are slightly increasing across the Czech Republic. Its brightly coloured plumage makes it virtually unmistakable, and watching it glide serenely over the landscape has always been my favourite pastime. For several years, I have tried to film the red kites feasting on carrion, which they like to indulge in especially in winter. Although one of them regularly circled so low over my head that I could have hit it with a rotten apple (just kidding), the close-up of it tearing its prey hasn't settled on my card yet.

This summer, however, fortune threw a scene in front of my lens that nicely illustrates the foraging opportunism of these predators. Although red kites are active hunters and can snatch anything, if given the opportunity to save energy and pick up carrion from the ground, they rarely refuse.

One morning in June, my friend Ondra Nágl and I finished a birdwatching session in the vicinity of a heron colony in Lednice and started wondering what to do next. Suddenly, among all those flying herons, storks, and geese, a silhouette with a beautifully cut tail caught our eye - a red kite! Despite being poor at filming birds in flight, I set up my equipment and tried to film the bird of prey. The kite happily circled around, swooped down to a nearby islet, snagged a dead baby egret, and disappeared among the trees. It only took a few seconds, but after slowing the footage down four times, we can see the whole heist quite comfortably.

Now I just need to spare some time in winter and film the red kite from a shorter distance :-)

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▷ Species
Red kite (Milvus milvus)

▷ Location
Lednice, Czechia | May 2022

▷ Equipment
- Panasonic GH6
- Metabones T Smart
- Sigma 150-600 C
- Zoom F3
- Sennheiser MKE 600

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Red kite | Milvus milvus | Luňák červený | Rotmilan | Milan royal | Milano real | nibbio reale | Красный коршун

#europeanwildlife #redkite #milvusmilvus

Видео Flying red kite snatches a dead egret канала Lukáš Pich