I usually pass on Black-winged Kites when I see them, but this one was zeroing in on prey so I photographed it for the first time in a while.

I spotted an adult Black-winged Kite on a power line, repeatedly eyeing the grassland below. It moved from its first perch to a lower telephone wire, then changed orientation and plunged down. A few seconds later it burst out of the grass with a Black Rat already squeezed dead in its talons.

It brought the rat back to the telephone wire and began eating, all the while pumping its tail up and down and calling. I thought a female nearby might be coming to steal the prey, but the bird flew off to the east. Tracking it with the camera, I could see another Black-winged Kite arrive and snatch the rat away. Enlarging the photos, it looked as though the prey was being passed not to a female but to a juvenile.

On Ishigaki Island, Black-winged Kites breed year-round except in the depths of winter. They raise young roughly twice per season, so the population has grown considerably — on busy days you can count around 10 birds in a single day.