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Artwork (Traditional) / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Avian (Other)
Size 924 x 950
File Size 917.6 kB
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A bit of an interesting story behind this painting...
I've been working on some ornithological illustrations for an internship I'm just about to apply for, and decided to paint black kites. I had the wonderful opportunity to see these incredible birds in a flight show at the National Aviary, and took lots of great reference photos of them.
Before I even started sketching, I did what I always do before I paint a bird - I did research. I researched these black kites and came to a rather strange realization - these black kites' plumage was closer to that of a red kite (Milvus milvus) than a black kite (Milvus migrans). Thinking perhaps they were misidentified, I researched the National Aviary website, and found they were identified, yes, as black kites. A bit more research, and I found that these were certainly black kites, due to the lack of a prominent forked tail, and lack of white patches under the wings.
So I began to paint, still not completely satisfied. After speaking with some other bird friends, we still couldn't come up with an answer, so I decided instead to finish up this painting of very red, black kites as a personal piece, and paint a different raptor for the portfolio.
So here we have the oddest black kites in the world. Are they a subspecies? A hybrid? I hope to find out someday! If you're interested in seeing some of the photographs of these kites, you can see them here:
http://www.falconmoon.com/boids/blackkite5.jpg
http://www.falconmoon.com/boids/blackkite4.jpg (shows the lack of forked tail and no white under the wings)
Watercolor with a bit of acrylic on illustration board, 9 X 9.25 inches
I've been working on some ornithological illustrations for an internship I'm just about to apply for, and decided to paint black kites. I had the wonderful opportunity to see these incredible birds in a flight show at the National Aviary, and took lots of great reference photos of them.
Before I even started sketching, I did what I always do before I paint a bird - I did research. I researched these black kites and came to a rather strange realization - these black kites' plumage was closer to that of a red kite (Milvus milvus) than a black kite (Milvus migrans). Thinking perhaps they were misidentified, I researched the National Aviary website, and found they were identified, yes, as black kites. A bit more research, and I found that these were certainly black kites, due to the lack of a prominent forked tail, and lack of white patches under the wings.
So I began to paint, still not completely satisfied. After speaking with some other bird friends, we still couldn't come up with an answer, so I decided instead to finish up this painting of very red, black kites as a personal piece, and paint a different raptor for the portfolio.
So here we have the oddest black kites in the world. Are they a subspecies? A hybrid? I hope to find out someday! If you're interested in seeing some of the photographs of these kites, you can see them here:
http://www.falconmoon.com/boids/blackkite5.jpg
http://www.falconmoon.com/boids/blackkite4.jpg (shows the lack of forked tail and no white under the wings)
Watercolor with a bit of acrylic on illustration board, 9 X 9.25 inches
Category Artwork (Traditional) / Animal related (non-anthro)
Species Avian (Other)
Size 924 x 950px
File Size 917.6 kB
Listed in Folders
Goodness they look like "off" Red Kites.. the plumage is right for Reds but the face and body shape is not.. I am guessing hybirds, never heard of any Blacks being Red!
Understandable confusion here which is a shame because I'm sure this would have made a perfect portfolio piece. It's wonderful!
Understandable confusion here which is a shame because I'm sure this would have made a perfect portfolio piece. It's wonderful!
Is it possible that they're a "light morph" of the normal coloration? Those can sometimes be so drastic that they look like hybrids or even separate species (ex. "Krider's hawk," a light morph of the red-tailed hawk.)
This is a lovely piece :) It definitely looks like it should be in a birdwatcher's field guide or textbook!
This is a lovely piece :) It definitely looks like it should be in a birdwatcher's field guide or textbook!
It's a wonderful drawing and I got curious about the confusion so dug out my big book of birds. It has red and blacks right next to each other on the same double page spread for comparison and images of juveniles. A jeuvenile red has a paler colouration to the adult, a less pronounced fork to the tail (on some a non-existant fork) and less pronounced white patches. The images I am looking at match perfectly with yours, So I would think that people have been miss-identifying a juvenile red as a black. This digging also used the photos you provided. If you are interested, the book I used is called Bird The Ultimate Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe, by Peter Hayman and Rob Hume published by Mitchell Beazley.
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