The Yellow-billed Kite (Milvus aegyptius) is the Sub-Saharan and North-east African counterpart of the Black Kite (Milvus migrans), of which it is most often considered a subspecies. However, recent DNA studies suggest that the Yellow-billed Kite differs significantly from Black Kites in the Eurasian clade, and should be considered as a separate, allopatric species.
There are two subspecies: M. a. parasitus, found throughout West, East and Southern Africa, except for the Congo basin and the Sahara Desert (with intra-African migrations) and M. a. aegyptius of Egypt and the Horn of Africa (which disperses south during the non-breeding season).
Cited references
- ^ Jeff A. Johnson, Richard T. Watson and David P. Mindell (2005) Prioritizing species conservation: does the Cape Verde kite exist? Proc. R. Soc. B 272: 1365"?1371
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