A Black Kite Milvus migrans on the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, Brazil

Abstract

he Black Kite Milvus migrans is a widespread migratory raptor found over much of the Old World. Vagrants have been widely recorded far from its main migratory routes. Here, we report the occurrence of a Black Kite in the Brazilian Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago (SPSPA) in April/May 2014. The bird remained for 32 days in the SPSPA, disappearing at the end of the rainy season. It looked healthy for most of this period and was once seen preying on a seabird chick. We speculate that the species was likely drifted off course by SW tradewinds, which may be responsible for the displacement of several other Old World bird species to the archipelagos of the west equatorial Atlantic, located in the Intertropical Convergence Zone. On the northwest African coast, trade winds are tangent to the western European-west African migratory flyway, which is used by M. m. migrans in its seasonal movements between Europe and Africa. We cannot, however, rule out ship-assistance for all or part of its journey to the archipelago. This is the first record of a Black Kite in Brazilian territory, although the species remains unknown on the American mainland.