Brahminy Kite Story

There is a story to this juvenile Brahminy Kite. 2 nights ago (20 June 200), I received a phone call from a birding friend who reported seeing a raptor on top of a lamp post. It had a 4 ft long string tied to one of its feet. In the dark, a few of us managed to rescue the bird and identified it as a juvenile Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus). It did not put up much of a struggle and was in fact tame compared to wild birds which would try to claw and bite you.

Flashback to March 02, Cheang finally discovered the Brahminy Kite pair we have been seeing for years flying over where we live but have yet to discover where they were from. They were found nesting in a tall Angsana tree that had dropped its leaves in Puan Sri Rosalind Foo's huge garden leaving the nest exposed. As you may know, Brahminy Kites are coastal, mangrove birds and we are about 100 km inland. This itself is unusual and there is no mistaking this pair as one of them has some missing primaries and we nicknamed it "Broken Wing". Cheang went over regularly to digiscope this nesting pair and its chick. Cheang said he last shot the young one on 11 May and thought its absence on subsequent visits was due to it being chased away by the adults.

This rescued juvenile kite was found about 1 km away. When I saw the juvenile, I suspected that this was the missing juvenile. With advice from some raptor experts, I found the juvenile to be in good health but human imprinted. It was fearless of man and will accept hand feeding and stroking. Sometime between May and June 20, it was captured and kept as a pet bird. The choice was either to send it to the zoo and sentence it to a life in an aviary or to free it and hope it will be able to fend for itself. Yesterday evening, from Mike Chong of Asian Raptor Research & Conservation Network's suggestion, Cheang, Chiu and I decided to try something. We took it back to where it was born to see its reaction to the environment of its birthplace (?) . It did when it heard horses whinnying away in the stables across the road. The parents were flying above us but by the time, we brought out the cage, they were gone. It was known that a lady trainer at the equestrian course across the road used to feed the adult kites, so this morning I checked with the manager to see if she knew of anyone there trapping birds and further advised her and her trainers not to feed them anymore.

This evening, 22 June 2002, we decided to free the juvenile kite as we felt keeping the bird caged any longer would not be good for it and for us. In just 2 days, we were getting attached to it. It was so beautiful. This evening, Audrey, my son Tristan and I took the juv. back to its birth place and released it. It clung on to Audrey's hand for a minute or two before an approaching dog frightened it to take flight to a branch where this photo was taken. It opened its wings as if to air them, flapped them to tidy them and moved its head as if listening for something and taking in the environment. If flew to a second tree and soon after caught sight of its parents and took off to join them. We were jubilant and felt great when the young joined the adult and flew in circles, up and away they went reunited as a happy family.