The Red Kite is largely a carrion-eater and plays an important role as a “sanitation worker” in the landscape. It readily takes animals killed by traffic and other carrion, but also hunts live small animals such as voles, mice, birds, frogs and insects. It soars low and watchful over fields and roads. Winter feeding at certain sites has contributed to the species' recovery. Its versatile diet, in which carrion makes up a large part, makes the Red Kite an effective scavenger that quickly locates dead animals by soaring watchfully over the landscape.