Black shouldered Kite

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These small kites are migrant visitors to Goa. Getting a shot of one sitting on an electric wire is easy. The kites will often sit on wires right at the side of a busy road. They aren’t that bothered by traffic and will sometimes let you get quite close to them when they are perched in these places.

Getting a shot of them in flight is another thing altogether. I tried the easier method first which was to get an assistant to scare the bird which invariably ‘killed the goose that laid the golden eggs’ by driving the kite away from you. You end up with a lousy shot of the rear end of the bird and a bird that won’t trust you to come close to it anymore!

The correct way is the hard way. Sit in the Saligao field for two hours. After about half an hour the kite will get used to you and start hunting around you. It’ll hover and if you’re lucky, jump into the field and jump back out with a mouse in its talons. All of this happening right at the side of a busy road!