Who monitors the kites?
Monitoring Information
The Southern England Kite Group (SEKG) monitors the red kite population in the Chilterns
and surrounding area.
The group monitors the birds through several ways, including roost counts, fitting wing tags, ringing, and radio tracking.
The photo on the right shows a kite that had just been taken from a nest in preparation for being released as part of the Northern Red Kites Project.
During the breeding season, experienced tree climbers check the nests. When the birds are approximately 5 weeks old, they are ringed by trained licensed ringers. The birds are also wing-tagged, measured, weighed and given a general check over.
The photo on the right shows 3 chicks that had just been lowered down from the nest, ready to be weighed, measured, ringed and wing-tagged. Not all the chicks are wing-tagged when lowered from the nest - it depends on how well developed they are.
Note the difference between the sizes. The bird on the right is clearly more developed than the one on the left, who has some catching up to do! This is quite normal when more than one chick is being raised, since the first hatched is usually the biggest chick that takes the majority of the food. The parents tend to feed the stronger of the chicks, which ensures at least one of them survive.
A chick ready to be wing-tagged and ringed.
The Southern England Kite Group (SEKG) monitors the red kite population in the Chilterns
and surrounding area.
The group monitors the birds through several ways, including roost counts, fitting wing tags, ringing, and radio tracking.
The photo on the right shows a kite that had just been taken from a nest in preparation for being released as part of the Northern Red Kites Project.
During the breeding season, experienced tree climbers check the nests. When the birds are approximately 5 weeks old, they are ringed by trained licensed ringers. The birds are also wing-tagged, measured, weighed and given a general check over.
The photo on the right shows 3 chicks that had just been lowered down from the nest, ready to be weighed, measured, ringed and wing-tagged. Not all the chicks are wing-tagged when lowered from the nest - it depends on how well developed they are.
Note the difference between the sizes. The bird on the right is clearly more developed than the one on the left, who has some catching up to do! This is quite normal when more than one chick is being raised, since the first hatched is usually the biggest chick that takes the majority of the food. The parents tend to feed the stronger of the chicks, which ensures at least one of them survive.
A chick ready to be wing-tagged and ringed.