Mislukt broedgeval van Rode Wouw Milvus milvus in centraal Noord-Brabant in 2014

In late winter 2013/14, a pair of red Kites was repeatedly observed in central Noord- Brabant, with display flights in late February and in March. During this period, the birds were seen to transport nesting material, including plastics and fabrics. The nest was newly built in a Quercus robur (c. 8 m high). Egg laying supposedly took place in the last week of March (perhaps including 1 April), as the female started full-time incubation on 1 April. Hatching date is estimated to have occurred at the end of the first week of May; the female was observed to feed small chicks in the second week of May. Adverse weather with heavy rainfall in mid-May is thought to have caused this breeding attempt to fail, as the parents were observed less frequently from then on; after 26 May the nest was definitely deserted. The female had moulted the first three primaries by 16 May (first two replaced, third in pin), a rather fast sequence and perhaps indicative of an immature bird. The male had replaced its first primary (Photo 2). This breeding attempt may have been facilitated by the high abundance of voles in 2014 (as suggested for a successful breeding attempt in Salland; Teunissen & van Manen 2014). The breeding in central Noord-Brabant is the first case here since decades.