I was so disappointed to read your biased report on Red Kites. What upset me most was the headline, picture and supporting caption. This promoted Red Kites as aggressive and intimidating; it even suggests they target bird tables and school playgrounds.
It is not acceptable to report such rubbish as if it occurs on a daily basis. Not every reader out there is an ornithologist and the majority of uninterested parties will not get to read the article in its entirety.
The Red Kite is predominantly a lazy bird preferring to live on carrion – that is dead animals, one of the reasons we see them so frequently over motorways.
However, it will take small rodents and fledglings when it has young to feed in the summer months. That they died out completely in the UK was due to the use of DDT as a pesticide, the poison being ingested via dead animals. It’s a predator and a carnivore that is it will not take bread, or nuts from bird tables, and it has even less interest in sweets or sandwiches from playgrounds.
Nick Duval
The Highwayman Hotel
Kidlington
Oxford
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