Argaty Red Kites





Red kites are back in Central Scotland after 130 years. Come and see these wonderful birds. Wing Tags Wing tags are fitted on kites at the patagium, a loose fold of skin between the shoulder and elbow. This method has been used for many years on a variety of bird species and causes no harm. Wing tags stay with red kites for life, unless they fall off! Most birds still carry two tags, fitted whilst ringing the young. Wing tags allow individual identification of birds to establish such information as survival rates, age of first breeding,movement patterns and composition of breeding pairs. It is because of the wing tagging programme that a vet in Portugal was able to report in autumn 2003 the rescue of one of our birds found near Porto with a fractured wing. Now nursed back to health and released we shall be watching closely to see if the bird reappears here. The left wing tag denotes which population the kite belongs to: all Central Scotland red kites carry a red left wing tag , North Scotland birds carry a blue tag, whilst kites from Dumfries and Galloway carry a green tag . This year at Argaty we have even see one bird from Yorkshire , identified by its Orange left wing tag. The right wing tag colour denotes the year code (see chart below). So that the tags can be read even if only one is visible, a bar at the bottom of the tag shows the colour of the opposite wing tag. We are always keen to hear where kites are sighted and will pass this information on to the RSPB : or phone us on 01786 841373. Wing Tag Guide

CENTRAL SCOTLAND
Kite's Left Wing (Region)	Kite's Right Wing (Year)	Juvenile with wing tags 2004
Yellow	Yellow (1996)
Dark Green	Dark Green (1997)
Red	Lime Green (1998)
Red	Black (1999)
Red	Pink (2000)
Red	Blue (2001)
Red	White (2002)
Red	Red (2003)
Red	Yellow (2004)
Red	Orange (2005)
Red	Lime Green (2006)
Red	Purple (2007)

NORTH SCOTLAND
Kite's Left Wing (Region)	Kite's Right Wing (Year)	Wing tags are readable even in flight
Blue	Yellow (1996)
Blue	Orange (1997)
Blue	Lime Green (1998)
Blue	Black (1999)
Blue	Pink (2000)
Blue	Blue (2001)
Blue	White (2002)
Blue	Red (2003)
Blue	Yellow (2004)
Blue	Orange (2005)
Blue	Lime Green (2006)
Blue	Purple (2007)

SOUTH WEST SCOTLAND
Kite's Left Wing (Region)	Kite's Right Wing (Year)
Green	Blue (2001)
Green	White (2002)
Green	Red (2003)
Green	Yellow (2004)
Green	Orange (2005)
Green	Lime Green (2006)
Green	Purple (2007)

Photographs © Lynn Bowser 2007 Copyright © 2007 Argaty Red Kites. All Rights Reserved