• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Black Kite Milvus migrans (del Hoyo et al. 2014) has been split into M. migrans and Yellow-billed Kite M. aegyptius (Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International 2020). 

Yellow-billed Kite Milvus aegyptius (with subspecies parasitus) differs from M. migrans by its
• Yellow vs black bill (3);
• Dark vs pale iris in adult state (2);
• Head and nape concolorous with upper body vs pale grey streaked black, contrasting with dark brown mantle (2);
• Finer black streaking below (ns[2])
• Wing (from BWP2) male 423 (7.6; n9) vs 447 (10.5; n15), effect size 2.62 (2).

Some Arabian birds (treated as arabicus in some places but synonymised with aegyptius in the Checklist) show some features of migrans (Forsman 2016).

Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2020. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 5. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v5_Dec20.zip.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Least Concern
2020	Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence breeding/resident (km2)	115,653,659
Extent of Occurrence non-breeding (km2)	135,760,673
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Value	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Number of mature individuals	4000000 - 5700000	poor	suspected	2021
Population trend	stable		suspected	-
Generation length (years)	9.28	-	-	-

Population justification: In Europe, the breeding population is estimated to number 186,000-254,000 breeding pairs, equating to 372,000-507,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International in prep.). Europe forms approximately 9% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 4,100,000-5,600,000 mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed. It is placed in the band 4,000,000-5,700,000 mature individuals.

Trend justification: Despite being possibly the most common raptor in the world, the population has declined owing to poisoning, shooting, pollution of water and over-use of pesticides. Modernisation of urban environments and agricultural improvements are also thought to be causing declines locally (Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001). However, in Europe the current population trend is stable or increasing in the three countries with the largest populations (over 90% of the total in the European Union) (BirdLife International in prep.). Outside Europe the overall trend is suspected to be overall stable: it is stable in India (State of India's Birds 2020), and has been increasing in Australia (Global Raptor Information Network 2015), but suspected to be declining in China and possible elsewhere in Asia (Global Raptor Information Network 2015).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding	Non-breeding	Passage
Afghanistan	extant	native		yes
Albania	extant	native		yes
Algeria	extant	native			yes
Angola	extant	native			yes
Armenia	extant	native	yes			yes
Australia	extant	native	yes
Austria	extant	native		yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes
Bahrain	extant	native
Bangladesh	extant	native	yes
Belarus	extant	native		yes
Belgium	extant	native		yes
Benin	extant	native			yes
Bhutan	extant	native	yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Botswana	extant	native			yes
Brunei	extant	native	yes
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes			yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native			yes
Burundi	extant	native			yes
Cambodia	extant	native	yes
Cameroon	extant	native			yes
Cape Verde	extant	vagrant
Central African Republic	extant	native			yes
Chad	extant	native			yes
China (mainland)	extant	native	yes
Comoros	extant	native	yes
Congo	extant	native			yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	native			yes
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native			yes
Croatia	extant	native		yes
Czechia	extant	native		yes
Denmark	extant	native				yes
Djibouti	extant	native			yes
Egypt	extant	native			yes	yes
Equatorial Guinea	extant	native			yes
Eritrea	extant	native			yes
Estonia	extant	native		yes
Eswatini	extant	native			yes
Ethiopia	extant	native			yes	yes
Finland	extant	native		yes
France	extant	native	yes			yes
Gabon	extant	native			yes
Gambia	extant	native			yes	yes
Georgia	extant	native	yes			yes
Germany	extant	native		yes		yes
Ghana	extant	native			yes
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native				yes
Greece	extant	native	yes			yes
Guam (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Guinea	extant	native			yes
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native			yes
Hungary	extant	native		yes
Iceland	extant	vagrant
India	extant	native	yes
Indonesia	extant	native	yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes			yes
Iraq	extant	native	yes			yes
Ireland	extant	vagrant
Israel	extant	native	yes	yes		yes
Italy	extant	native	yes			yes
Japan	extant	native	yes
Jordan	extant	native				yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kenya	extant	native			yes
Kuwait	extant	native				yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Laos	extant	native	yes
Latvia	extant	native		yes
Lebanon	extant	native
Lesotho	extant	native			yes
Liberia	extant	native			yes
Libya	extant	native	yes
Liechtenstein	extant	native		yes
Lithuania	extant	native		yes
Luxembourg	extant	native		yes
Madagascar	presence uncertain	native			yes
Malawi	extant	native			yes
Malaysia	extant	native	yes
Mali	extant	native			yes
Malta	extant	native				yes
Mauritania	extant	native			yes	yes
Mayotte (to France)	extant	native	yes
Moldova	extant	native		yes		yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Morocco	extant	native	yes
Mozambique	extant	native			yes
Myanmar	extant	native	yes
Namibia	extant	native			yes
Nepal	extant	native	yes
Netherlands	extant	native		yes
Niger	extant	native			yes
Nigeria	extant	native			yes
North Korea	extant	native	yes
North Macedonia	extant	native		yes
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Norway	extant	vagrant
Oman	extant	native
Pakistan	extant	native	yes
Palau	extant	native			yes
Palestine	extant	native				yes
Papua New Guinea	extant	native	yes
Philippines	extant	native	yes
Poland	extant	native		yes
Portugal	extant	native		yes
Qatar	extant	native				yes
Romania	extant	native		yes		yes
Russia	extant	native		yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
Rwanda	extant	native			yes
São Tomé e Príncipe	extant	native			yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native			yes	yes
Senegal	extant	native			yes	yes
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Seychelles	extant	vagrant
Sierra Leone	extant	native			yes
Singapore	extant	native	yes
Slovakia	extant	native		yes
Slovenia	extant	native		yes
Somalia	extant	native			yes	yes
South Africa	extant	native			yes
South Korea	extant	native	yes
South Sudan	extant	native			yes
Spain	extant	native	yes			yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native	yes
Sudan	extant	native		yes	yes
Sweden	extant	native		yes
Switzerland	extant	native		yes
Syria	extant	native		yes		yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native	yes
Tajikistan	extant	native		yes
Tanzania	extant	native			yes
Thailand	extant	native	yes
Timor-Leste	extant	native	yes
Togo	extant	native			yes
Tunisia	extant	native		yes
Türkiye	extant	native	yes			yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native		yes
Uganda	extant	native			yes
Ukraine	extant	native	yes			yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native				yes
United Kingdom	extant	vagrant
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	extant	vagrant
Uzbekistan	extant	native		yes
Vietnam	extant	native	yes
Western Sahara	extant	native				yes
Yemen	extant	native			yes	yes
Zambia	extant	native			yes
Zimbabwe	extant	native			yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Serbia	Gornje Potisje
Lithuania	Initial area of Aukstaitija NP
Lithuania	Kauno Marios water reservoir & eastern coastal zone
Lithuania	Lithuanian part of the Curonian Spit
Lithuania	Labanoras Regional Park
Lithuania	Asveja Regional Park
Lithuania	Grazute Regional Park (part of)
Hungary	Szigetköz
Poland	Drawa River Site
Poland	Lower Odra river valley
Poland	Witnica-Debno Site
Poland	Forest at Gwda River
Poland	Middle Odra River Valley
Poland	Augustów forest
Poland	Pisz forest
Poland	Notec Forest
Poland	Lower Silesia Forests
Poland	Oak-hornbeam forests in the Odra valley
Slovenia	Črete
Slovenia	Spodnja Sava
Spain	Tierra de Campos steppes
Spain	River Cega-Tierra de Pinares-Cantalejo
Spain	Castronuño-Zamora
Spain	Gredos and Candelario mountain ranges
Spain	Cortados del Jarama
Spain	Lower course of the river Matarraña-Ribarroja
Spain	Alcubierre and Sigena mountain ranges
Spain	Zuera mountains
Spain	San Mauricio-Bohí-Beret
Spain	Guadalquivir marshes
Spain	San Pedro mountain range
Spain	Low Tietar river and La Vera valley
Spain	Campo Charro y Tierras de Ledesma
Serbia	Obedska bara
Serbia	Bosutska forest

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	resident
Desert	Hot	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	resident
Forest	Temperate	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Sea Cliffs and Rocky Offshore Islands	suitable	resident
Marine Intertidal	Rocky Shoreline	suitable	resident
Marine Intertidal	Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars, Spits, Etc	suitable	resident
Marine Intertidal	Shingle and/or Pebble Shoreline and/or Beaches	suitable	resident
Marine Intertidal	Tidepools	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 4900 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 5300 m

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Scale Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		No decline		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Energy production & mining	Renewable energy	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Species mortality
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Species mortality
Pollution	Garbage & solid waste	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		No decline		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Transportation & service corridors	Utility & service lines	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality

Purpose	Primary form used	Life stage used	Source	Scale	Level	Timing
Pets/display animals, horticulture	-	-			non-trivial	recent

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2023) Species factsheet: Milvus migrans. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/black-kite-milvus-migrans on 24/09/2023. Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2023) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://datazone.birdlife.org on 24/09/2023.