HUNGRY WHITE-TAILED KITE

SOARING through the air, a hungry white-tailed kite prepares to snatch a vole from his mother’s claws. This mid-air takeaway was captured by Malaysian photographer Phoo Chan on a trip to Gomes Park in Fremont, California, USA. ‘At first glance this looks like a fight over food, but it is actually an adult white-tailed kite offering her freshly caught vole to her chick,’ says 50-year-old Phoo, of California. Being able to catch the vole in mid-air is part of the chick’s formative training, before the bird is old enough to hunt on his own.