Kites flying

Only recently have black or fork-tailed kites (Milvus migrans) become common around Melbourne. They're more familiar in Australia as birds of warmer climes. In the tropics, black kites are as numerous as pigeons. Okay, maybe not pigeons. But there's a fair few of them. And because they are sociable birds, where you see one, you'll probably see a few more.

I spotted these birds today at Serendip Sanctuary, where they were quartering the ibis colony. The ibis weren't happy. But then a whistling kite landed in a tree right in the middle of the colony and the ibis started to re-evaluate things.