We get asked this question a lot and although many other groups of birds are known by their collective nouns, it appears there isn’t an official noun for a group of red kites.
This is probably because kites weren’t used for hunting prey in falconry although they were sometimes part of the ‘game bag’ and were hunted themselves. Hunting other birds of prey was known as kite-hawking and was a type of falconry practised in Europe and Asia.
In England and France, the red kite was the main source of prey in kite-hawking until the first half of the 19th century. The French falconer Charles D’Arcussia describes accompanying King Louis XIII on hawking excursions and explains how falcons were trained to kill kites. After a rather graphic account of a day’s hunting he is at pains to point out that the king was so good natured that he would often spare the lives of the kites, releasing them from the windows of the Louvre.
18th century records from the Austrian imperial court mention both the black and red kite as part of the falconer’s game bag and kite hawking of black kites was practised in India and Pakistan until the 1940s.
As well as written records, kite-hawking is depicted in numerous artworks of the time such as in Joseph Wolf’s 1856 painting of two gyrfalcons striking a red kite against a dramatic backdrop.
Some people refer to a group of red kites as a wake which is the same as the collective noun for buzzards, another bird rarely used in falconry as it is considered too lazy. Other unofficial terms include ‘husk’, ‘kettle’ and ‘soar’.
Compare this with the variety of collective nouns for hawks, which reflects the popularity of these birds of prey in falconry:
If you are aware of an official collective noun for red kites, or you’ve got a great suggestion, then please let us know in the comments below.
6 Responses
A string of kites
I was told (by a fairly reliable source) that it’s a carousel of kites – wether it’s true or not I think it’s perfect!
Should be a string of Kites
I like a ‘competition of kites’ as it is a play on words to the flying kite completions held around the country!
The way they eat, “A SWOOP” of Kites.
I suggest the a “flying” be adopted as the collective noun for the Red Kite…