Black Kite eating in flight

A fine Sunday morning and I was photographing birds at Sangamwadi, Pune. There were some Painted Storks, Grey Herons, Cormorants, Kingfishers and Black Kites.

I was shooting Eurasian kingfisher in it natural habitat. Something in the air drew my attention; it appeared like a black kite was flying with a catch. I quickly released my lens from the tripod and started tracking the action.

What I happen to observe did surprise me a bit as I was not aware about this behavior of the black kite. The black kite was eating in the flight. As the kite was flying 77m away, I had to crop my images to get a closer look to the action.

It was fascinating to watch it do that. Days later I observed another black kite eating in flight. On this occasion three other black kites and a  house crow were trying to steal the catch. Wasting no time this fellow started eating in flight, he was able to grab some pieces of fish. Finally after a bit of circling around and with continuous pressure from fellow challengers he dropped the  catch.

No sooner he dropped another black kite picked it up. It was a pleasure to watch the action.