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While the Black Kite Milvus migrans is one of the most widespread birds of prey, occurring over Eurasia, Africa and Australia, it remains poorly understood outside of Europe, with southeast Asian populations particularly mysterious as their taxonomy is based on outdated morphological data. The subspecies M. m. formosanus, described in 1920, is thought to inhabit Taiwan and Hainan; however, populations in these areas have experienced dramatic changes over the past fifty years. Furthermore, M. m. formosanus is the only officially recognised subspecies for which almost no genetic data is yet available. Based on two mitochondrial genes, we compared Taiwanese Black Kites with northeast Asian and Japanese M. m. lineatus, Indian M. m. govinda and Australian M. m. affinis to reconstruct details of their population history. While Indian and Australian Black Kites are descendants of the same population, they do not share common haplotypes, probably having diverged by the end of the last glaciation. The Japanese population is distinctive in showing genetic uniformity, and it may be isolated from the mainland population. Nesting Taiwanese kites carry two previously known M. m. lineatus haplogroups and a new haplogroup possibly inherited from M. m. formosanus previously occurring in the area. A recent decline in the local population, along with expansion of M. m. lineatus, most likely led to Taiwan now being inhabited by descendants of both subspecies, which form two genetically isolated populations in southern and northern Taiwan.

The Black Kite (Milvus migrans) is one of the most widespread raptors in the world. The Palaearctic is populated by two migrating subspecies, Milvus migrans migrans and Milvus migrans lineatus, in the western and eastern part of this realm, respectively. There is a large intergradation zone of M. m. migrans/M. m. lineatus in-between. Although the migration routes of M. m. migrans from Europe to Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East are well known, detailed information about migration routes of Black Kites from intergradation zone are missing. Using satellite telemetry we are able to fill this gap in our knowledge of these birds. We tagged with GPS/SMS/GPRS telemetry loggers 13 and 6 Black Kite pulli in lowland around Biysk (Altai Krai, Russia) and in mountains around Kosh-Agach (Altai Republic, Russia), respectively. After fledging, Black Kites from both subpopulations stayed in a small, non-overlapping areas and then migrated to southern Asia through narrow corridors. Black Kites originating from Biysk migrated through the Western Circum-Himalayan Corridor. Black Kites originating from Kosh-Agach used the Trans-Himalayan Corridor crossing the Himalayas in altitudes of up to 6256 m asl. The average total distance travelled of Black Kites from both subpopulations was 9166 km without any significant differences between these subpopulations. Timing of both spring and autumn migration did not vary along different age groups. Black Kites from both subpopulations wintered in low elevations of Pakistan and India. Birds wintered on average for 190 days, and the mean area of individual home ranges in winter was 4704 km 2 . During the breeding period, birds dwelled in south-western Siberia, where they spent on average 125 days with an average home range size 3537 km 2 . We found that ontogenetic shifts in migratory behaviour of Black Kites from Eastern Russia differ from those in population/subspecies in Europe. Black Kites crossing the Himalayas fly and, moreover, stay for hours resting at night in the environment of mountains at altitudes over 5000 m., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The gene mcr-1 conferring resistance to last-line antibiotic colistin has been reported globally. Here, we describe the first detection of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance in Russian wildlife, an isolate of Escherichia coli sequence type 2280 from a black kite ( Milvus migrans ) scavenging raptor. Whole-genome sequencing and plasmid transferability experiments revealed that mcr-1.1 was located on conjugative IncI2 plasmid pDR164 (59891 bp). Migratory black kites may contribute to the global spread of mobile colistin resistance., (Copyright © 2019 American Society for Microbiology.)