Update 2005:
The first Danish red kite has been observed roosting in Spain.

This is the first observation of a live Danish red kite outside of Denmark! All previous information has been band recoveries from dead kites.

It has been identified numerous times by the code on its yellow wing-tags.
It is a juvenile male from 2004 and it was the first red kite marked with wing-tags in Denmark.
Funding/contibutions towards 2005 have been found..

The objectives of the study will further the understanding of why the red kite is experiencing such low breeding success in Denmark.
After the population was exterminated in the mid 1800's, the red kite started to nest again in Denmark in the 1970s. There have been fewer than 30 breeding pairs per year since the 1990s, and to 25 pairs in 2004.

The neighboring countries of Sweden and Germany have breeding populations of about 1,000 and between 9,000-12,000 breeding pairs respectively (Carter 2001; Grell 2003).

Among red kite populations of Europe, the Danish population has one of the lowest breeding successes, and between 1980 and 2002 experienced the highest percentage of failed breeding attempts ranging between 36% - 51% (Sylven 1983; Bomholt 1997; Grell 2003). Poor success with raising fledglings has been an ongoing problem since the kite re-appeared as a yearly breeding bird in Denmark in the 1970s.

The production of young has declined from 1.45 in 1980-1989 to the present 1.1 per breeding pair per year (Grell 2003) compared to recent research in Sweden of 1.8 young per pair and 1.64 in Germany (Mammen & Stubbe 2000).

The primary focus of my research is on environmental contamination, it includes using the barn owl (Tyto alba guttata) and the European kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) as models for the red kite as these species share habitat and overlap in diet with the kite.

The contaminants I am analyzing for are organophosphates, carbamates, heavy metals, organochlorines, PCBs, anticoagulant rodenticides, and brominated flame retardants. Blood, feathers, foot washes, addled eggs, pellets, carcasses, and scavenged prey will be used in these analyses. I will be performing these analyses at collaborative laboratories in the US, England and Norway.

During the pilot year in 2004 I worked with 6 nestlings from three red kite nests as well as barn owl chicks from nearby nesting boxes. We banded, wing-tagged and collected samples for the contaminant analyses from redkites and barn owl nestlings. Additional, nest observations and an extensive collection of prey remains was also conducted.

In 2005 I will expanding the research to include additional red kites nests. We will be working intensely with the three focal nests again where we will attempt capture of the adults.

If funding allows and capture is successful we will fit radio-transmitters on adult kites at these nests. At the three focal nests the nestlings we will banded, wing-tagged, and sampled.

Red kite nestlings from the additional nests, as well as barn owls and kestrels, will be banded and samples will be collected for the contaminant analyses.

For more information on the project or to volunteer in 2005,
please contact ,
Zoological Museum,
University of Copenhagen
Denmark