Red Kite swoops in (1 Viewer)

[Two on Tour]

We park our camper van and my truck down the side of our house and this afternoon after a bit of tinkering on the camper I decided to take it for a test drive.
Walking down to the camper I noticed a dead young bird chick on the gravel and thought "poor little bugger not much of a life"
Back from the test drive and walk back from the camper I notice that the chick had gone.
Checked the CCTV and this what we saw.



All over in a few second, so here are a few stills from the video.

 

[icantremember]

Brilliant ... love the stills.

 

[CazPaul]

Wonderful, great clip that is.

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[davanne]

Great still shots...we have a lot of red kites round here we see them flying at the back most days

 

[CWH]

My apologies @CCC , I've watched this so many times & not commented - so, better late than never - WOW!!!!! Some of those stills are just beautiful, watching how the kite positions his/her (?) feet for the grab - just wonderful!

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

Fabulous!

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[movan]

Love it. Thanks for posting.

 

[DBK]

Great stuff - but the hedge needs cutting.

 

[Two on Tour]

It does indeed but we have a song thrush (although now down by one chick) and several sparrows on second broods nesting in the hedge at present so I'll have to hang fire for a while.

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[Two on Tour]

My apologies @CCC , I've watched this so many times & not commented - so, better late than never - WOW!!!!! Some of those stills are just beautiful, watching how the kite positions his/her (?) feet for the grab - just wonderful!

I know that the Red Kites have amazing eye sight but with the house on one side and a hedge on the other side of a narrow strip to see a very small non moving dead chick and grab it on the first attempt as you say WOW.
We could not work out who or what had taken the chick at first as flicking though the CCTV footage it was there one second and gone the next and it was only when we went through the footage again in slow mow that the story unfolded.

 

[DBK]

Most of the raptors have an amazing combination of both eyesight and flying abilities. For example a sparrow hawk can flick through trees and grab a bird it suddenly surprises on the wing.
The exception is probably the Buzzard which on a good day can find and land near a dead rabbit given time.

 

[Two on Tour]

I remember being gobsmacked seeing this footage a few years back, a bit grainy on the Goshawk flight but well worth a watch.

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[CWH]

The exception is probably the Buzzard which on a good day can find and land near a dead rabbit given time.

... and seeing ONE buzzard attack a PAIR of white-tailed eagles sort of supports that 'eejit bird' theory ...